In the Loop
Alumni News : Sep 19, 2017

SOM alumna Stella Sung’s composition performed by National Symphony Orchestra in Labor Day concert

By Rachel Rockwell

On September 4, UF School of Music alumna Stella Sung (MFA Music ‘84) saw a piece she composed performed by the National Symphony Orchestra at the Labor Day Capitol Concert in Washington, D.C. The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presented the concert.

“The National Symphony is one of the leading orchestras, and so I was really thrilled to have that performance,” Sung said. “There were probably at least 3,000 plus people in attendance because it was a wonderful evening, the weather was great and, apparently, a favorite thing for Washingtonians to do on Labor Day.”

Her composition - “The Peace Corps” - was written in 2007 as part of a larger body of work called “Rockwell Reflections,” based on five paintings by Norman Rockwell.

Sung received her master’s in composition from the college in 1984 going on to earn a doctorate in piano performance from the University of Texas at Austin.

“My career now is really as a composer, and I think my time at UF was formative of that because I just really was exploring,” she said. “I had two wonderful teachers, John White and Ed Troupin, and all in all, it was a really wonderful time.”

She currently serves as the director of the Center for Research and Education in Arts, Technology and Entertainment (CREATE) at the University of Central Florida where she is also a professor.

Read more about Sung and “The Peace Corps” performance in Washington, D.C., here.