Mark Kilstofte

Mark Kilstofte

Mark Kilstofte is admired as a composer of lyrical line, engaging harmony, strong, dramatic gesture and keen sensitivity to sound, shape and event. Praised by the San Francisco Chronicle as “exciting and beautiful, consistently gripping,” his music has garnered a growing number of awards and honors including the Rome Prize, ASCAP's Rudolf Nissim Award, the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship and Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Aaron Copland Award.

Dr. Kilstofte serves as coordinator of Furman University's Theory Division and teaches composition, counterpoint, form and analysis, Schenkerian analysis, and supervises independent study.

An experienced performer and conductor, he is one of relatively few composers also trained as a singer. He studied at St. Olaf College and the University of Michigan where he was a Rackham Pre-Doctoral Fellow and assistant conductor of the new music ensemble, Contemporary Directions. His principal composition teachers were William Albright, Leslie Bassett, William Bolcom and Eugene Kurtz. His music is published by the Newmatic Press.

  • D.M.A. University of Michigan
  • M.M. University of Michigan
  • B.M. St. Olaf College
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Office Phone: 864/294-2229

Kilstofte First Composer to Win Copland Award Twice
Excerpt from the American Symphony Orchestra e-letter:

"Seven composers have been selected to receive 2003 Aaron Copland Awards, which includes all-expenses-paid residencies at Copland House, the restored home of the composer just north of New York City. Recipients include: Fernando Benandon of Walnut Creek, Calif.; Yotah Haber of Ithaca, N.Y.; Mark Kilstofte of Greenville, S.C.; Jerome Kitzke of New York; Tom Lopez of Oberlin, Ohio; Doug Opel of Fort Wayne, Ind.; and Judith Lang Zaimont of Edina, Minn. Kilstofte is the first composer to be selected for a second Aaron Copland Award, having already received the honor in 1998, the Copland House's inaugural year. "