Stella Sung joins Kenan Institute for the Arts Board of Advisors

Award-winning composer Stella Sung is the newest addition to the Board of Advisors of the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She will serve a three-year term, beginning this month at the Board of Advisors meeting October 25.

“I am very excited to be serving as a new board member for the Kenan Institute, and I look forward to learning, sharing and experiencing new artistic and collaborative work,” Sung said. “The diversity and aspects of community work that the Kenan Institute does are most interesting to me, and I am honored to be working alongside new colleagues and fellow artists.”

As a national and international award-winning composer, Sung’s compositions are performed throughout the United States and abroad. She is director of the Center for Research and Education in Arts, Technology, and Entertainment (CREATE) at the University of Central Florida and is Professor of Music in UCF’s School of Visual Arts and Design.

The Kenan Institute is excited about the experience and passion Sung brings to the board, said Kenan Executive Director Corey Madden. “Stella is renowned for her innovative use of cutting-edge technologies in her compositions to elevate the artistic impact of her work and engage audiences in new ways. She is a quintessential artist leader, and the Kenan Institute is honored to have her bring her experience and expertise as we work to inspire artists to become leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators who can tackle the complex challenges of the 21^st-century creative economy.”

About Stella Sung

Sung is director of CREATE at the University of Central Florida as well as a Professor of Music. She holds a Pegasus Professorship, the highest honor awarded to distinguished faculty members at UCF, and also holds one of twelve University Trustees Chair professorships.

She earned a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the University of Michigan, a Master of Fine Arts degree in composition from the University of Florida and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from the University of Texas at Austin.

Since 2003, Sung has been using digital and multi-media applications in her concert and symphonic compositions, music for dance and ballet, and recent operas that include the use of advanced projection techniques and other stage design concepts using technology.

She is also an active composer for film and was the composer and music supervisor for the score for the full-length documentary film, “Voices in the Clouds,” which received critical acclaim in national and international film festivals. Her music was featured in the short animation film, “Atlas’ Revenge,” based upon her orchestral work of the same title, which was selected as the first place winner at the SIGGRAPH conference.

Several documentary films have been made about Sung’s work including a film by award-winning documentary film-maker Lisa Mills, which captures the world premiere performance of her large orchestral work, “The Circle Closes.” The film garnered a Silver Medal Award from the Park City Film Music Festival and a Bronze Telly Award.

Sung is the recipient of many awards, including the Phi Kappa Phi National Artists Award and a Meet the Composer award. She is a two-time winner of a Florida Individual Artists Fellowship, as well as the recipient of a Florida Artists Enhancement award. She was a Fellow at the prestigious MacDowell Colony and was the recipient of the Norton Stevens Fellowship. Other awards have been from the National Endowment for the Arts, New Music USA, Meet the Composer, the German Ministry of Culture, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) and the Division of Cultural Affairs of the State of Florida.