Eli Fieldsteel

"The emotional and representational power of music propels my work as an artist. My focus concerns the careful balance of pitch, gesture, timbre, and contour in order to create meaningful and expressive ideas. Music is remarkable in that it can tell a compelling story through sound alone. Music can breathe life into ink and paper.

I enjoy composing music with inherently physical, tangible qualities. Whether evoking a tender moment or a surge of passion, I want the music to leap from the page and draw the audience in. Above all else, I strive to create an enjoyable, memorable, and meaningful experience for the listener."

Eli Fieldsteel

Eli Fieldsteel (b. 1986) is an American composer, conductor, arranger, and percussionist with a particular interest in music for large ensemble. His works have been performed in a number of venues across the country.

Eli became seriously interested in composition in 2002, when he joined the Wesleyan Wind Ensemble as a percussionist. Over the next three years, the group performed and recorded six of his compositions for wind band. Eli received his Bachelor’s degree in music from Brown University in 2008. During his time there, he studied composition, orchestration, and counterpoint with Gerald Shapiro. In 2005, he became the student conductor of the Brown Wind Symphony and conducted several of his new works. Eli has studied with David Bithell, Cindy McTee, and Jon C. Nelson at the University of North Texas, where he received his Master's degree in 2010. He is currently a doctoral composition student at the University of Texas at Austin.

Eli’s recent work reflects an emerging interest in technology and electroacoustic music as well as a continuous desire to refine and personalize his rhythmic and tonal vocabulary. In 2009, Fantasy for Wind Symphony was selected as a finalist in the second Frank Ticheli Competition. In the same year, his orchestral work, Cordillera, was selected for performance by the UNT Symphony Orchestra in the school’s annual Concerto Competition. In 2010, Fantasy for Wind Symphony was selected as the winner of the first annual Bandmasters’ Academic Society of Japan competition and performed in Tokyo by the Kawagoe Sohwa Wind Ensemble.