Harry Stafylakis (b. 1982) hails from Montreal and is now based in New York City. "Dreamy yet rhythmic" (NY Times), with a “terrible luminosity” and “ferociously expressive” (Times Colonist), his concert music integrates idioms drawn from classical and popular styles. With an intimate background in progressive metal and traditional Greek music, Stafylakis has developed a unique conception of musical temporality and rhythm, infusing his compositions with a characteristic vitality and drive.
Stafylakis is the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's Composer-In-Residence and Festival Director & Co-Curator of the WSO's Winnipeg New Music Festival. His works have been performed by the Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Edmonton, Victoria, Spokane, Stamford, FSU, and PEI symphony orchestras, American Composers Orchestra, McGill Chamber Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, ICE, Contemporaneous, Mivos Quartet, Quatuor Bozzini, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Nouveau Classical Project, ensemble mise-en, Cadillac Moon Ensemble, Cygnus Ensemble, Ensemble 212, Alea III, Lorelei Ensemble, Architek Percussion, Norrbotten NEO, and American Modern Ensemble. His works have been featured at the NY Philharmonic Biennial, Aspen Music Festival, Winnipeg New Music Festival, New Music on the Point, Atlantic Center for the Arts, June In Buffalo, Composers Now, FSU Festival of New Music, Providence Premieres, Aries Composers Festival, SCI, EAMA, Cluster, York Guitar Festival, and the Montreal International Classical Guitar Festival.
His awards include the Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the ASCAP Foundation’s Leonard Bernstein Award, four SOCAN Foundation Awards for Young Composers, and grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, and New Music USA. He serves on the board of directors of GroundSwell (Winnipeg) and the interdisciplinary curatorial panel of I-Park Foundation (CT), is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre, and a founding member of the NYC composer collective ICEBERG New Music.
Stafylakis degrees from McGill University and The Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY). He lectures at the City College of New York. His doctoral research, supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada, examines the conception of rhythm and meter in progressive metal. He serves on the Music Department faculty of the City College of New York as Adjunct Lecturer, and is a Level III (ABD) doctoral candidate in Music Composition at The Graduate Center, CUNY.
