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I have known composer Ingrid Stölzel since she moved to the United States from Germany in 1991. I met Ingrid when we were both playing in bands and studying music at the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

She is currently working on her DMA dissertation at UMKC where she studies in a world-class department of music composition with James Mobberley, Chen Yi, and Zhou Long.

Ingrid and I sat down to talk about her music over dinner at the Record Bar before one of Jeff Harshbarger's Sunday night jazz concerts.

As a young music student, Ingrid would write different endings for her assigned piano pieces. Her teacher noticed this creative quality and decided it would be best to teach her musical notation.

Throughout her life, she has refined that vigorous creativity. She approaches music like an archaeologist. She studies the tiny details to fully understand the whole.

Music has always been the best way for her to express herself. She says, "Music is an abstract language that can express powerful emotions without the use of words."

Ingrid is adept in coming up with new ideas for her music. She doesn't rely on formulas. She breaks new ground with every new piece.

Ingrid describes herself as a melodist. She is someone concerned with the melody. She develops her compositions from motives, fragments of melodies, which come to her from seeing art, or just in everyday life.

She examines these fragments and develops her pieces by asking herself, "What does this melody want? What is it telling me?" Then she expands the motives into themes and passages that comprise her works.

Ingrid composes predominately for chamber ensembles. She enjoys the challenge of creating emotionally charged works for small ensembles. She also enjoys the intimate setting that chamber music provides.

In her compositions, Ingrid says she is "trying to slow down and savor the moment." She is not afraid to write pretty music, and she also writes powerful music. A wealth of emotion is transmitted from her music.

One of Ingrid's recent works, With Both Eyes, will be performed for the first time in Kansas City this coming November 1st. To me, it is about wonderment. The listener is cautious of what is around the next melodic corner, but anxious to see all the same. It has the sound of a baby's eyes in silent laughter. It moves seamlessly, delicate, but not fragile.

As an artist, Ingrid is concerned about the overpowering background noise in our world. She says, "To write something beautiful and delicate is in itself a response to much of what surrounds us." People are bombarded by a constant stream of media overkill. She believes that all artists have to fight their way through a "dense forest of noise" to be heard.

I remember listening to a CD of Ingrid's compositions, Suggesting Motion, some years ago. The final movement of the last piece whipped me into such frenzy and I had to push pause on the CD player. My heart was racing and I was out of breath like I had been running a race.

Ingrid composes in her studio working on the score, getting everything exact so that the language of the score reads implicitly to the performers. But she also loves the interpretive aspect of the performance. Each instrumentalist brings their own musical experience to the performance, and to see them sway and swoon to the arch of the melody is as much a part of the performance as are the sounds themselves.

With Both Eyes will be performed by members of the newEar ensemble, Saturday, November 1st as part of the concert Kansas City Connections at Unity Temple on the Plaza. The concert is the second of four installments of the newEar 2008 season and features a diverse collection of contemporary works. The concert starts at 8 pm and tickets are $20 or $8 for students and there are specials on Facebook and Myspace. Visit newEar on the web at www.newEar.org.

By Scott Easterday

New Classical Contributor, VIDs Department Director

Scott Easterday is a musician and singer/songwriter. He writes reviews and performs interviews for KCMetropolis in New Classical and explores new directions in the performing arts.

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