Dr. Stephanie Susberich (UMKC 2025, COmposition) is a composer and vocalist interested in stories and resonance. SHe is also the founder of Next Sounds, a classical and new music concert series based in Manhattan.

Her music has been premiered by the Etchings Festival, International Contemporary Ensemble, and Radius Ensemble. She’s performed in venues as diverse in range from LA’s Viper Room to NJPAc and has also performed throughout nyc in venues such as Dixon Place, the cell, Cornelia Street Café, NYU's Kimmel Center, and pangea, in addition to Kansas City’s Immaculate Conception Cathedral and university of missouri, kansas city’s white hall and grant hall.

Her dma dissertation composition is called the lily of quito, a 33-minute cantata scored for soprano, flute, classical guitar, violin, viola, cello, and percussion: glockenspiel, crotales, wooden blocks, wind chimes, triangle, and bass drum. it is about saint mariana of jesus, the patroness of ecuador and sets the saint’s original words.

her Master’s thesis from Tufts University (2022) set the poetry of the nearly forgotten Cuban poetess, Juana Borrero, who died of tuberculosis at the age of 18. Her inner world was a dramatic interplay of light, love, darkness, death, and destiny. the studio recorded album will be released this year.

while still a dma student, dr. susberich served as the graduate teaching assistant for the University of missouri, kansas City’s composition department for three semesters, where she taught labs on instrumentation, notation, and 20th century counterpoint. she also taught private composition lessons to undergraduate composers. she scored a high pass on her dma comprehensive exams last fall and maintained a 4.0 gpa throughout all semesters of her dma.

“I believe music speaks to us through beauty and mystery. And I like opening doors to this discreet realm.”