Composer/guitarist Van Stiefel has composed over fifty works synthesizing various musical languages and techniques with improvisation, electric guitar, and interactive technologies. He has produced two albums released on New Focus Recordings and has recorded compositions on the Mode and Innova labels. Scores are published by Da Vinci Publishing. Eclectic and idiosyncratic, Stiefel aims at a sonic experience “…beyond space and time, deceiving in its simplicity” (Bob Dugen of BigThink).

Featured performances at festivals and venues include Festival de Musica Contemporanea de La Habana in Cuba, Nuova Consonanza Festival in Rome, Kimmel Center Philadelphia, Lagonegra International Guitar Festival, EMPAC Filament Festival, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, New York Guitar Festival, Società del Quartteto di Vercelli, TEDx Phoenixville, and an all-Stiefel concert for the Yale Guitar Extravaganza.

In 2015, Stiefel composed and conducted Sergio Sorrentino and Orchestra Sinfonia Carlo Coccia in Bound, a blues-inspired concerto for electric guitar.

Stiefel’s music has been supported by the Augustine Foundation, the Georgia Council for the Arts, Mid-Atlantic Arts Council, Met-Life Composer Connections, and the American Composers' Forum.


An active private teacher of composition and guitar, Stiefel has started writing about music on Substack. He has been on the faculties of the Princeton University Writing Center, McGill University, and West Chester University of Pennsylvania.


© Van Stiefel 2023

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