Stephen Jones

Stephen Jones is Professor of Composition in the School of Music and former Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communications at Brigham Young University.

Jones studied composition as an undergraduate at BYU and received MM and DMA degrees in composition from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music.

His pieces have been played throughout the United States and internationally, including performances by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Utah Symphony, the Fairbanks Symphony, the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, and many other professional and university-based ensembles. His works have been heard in performances at the Utah Arts Festival and at national conferences of the Society of Composers, the College Band Directors National Association, the Percussive Arts Society, the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music and the British Association of Symphonic Bands and Wind Ensembles Festival.

Jones’s research is focused on the development of modern and contemporary music in China. His chapter on Huang Zi’s first art song, “Longing for Home” 《思乡》, was published in 2023 by Routledge in the book, “The Art Song in East Asia and Australia, 1900-1950.” He was a keynote speaker at "Contrast and Convergence: Contemporary Chinese Music Research in a Global Perspective” (2023) at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where he serves as a member of the Academic Committee of the Institute of Musicology. Additional recent activities include presentations and invited lecture at Chinese Music Europe (CHIME) 25 (Heidelberg), CHIME 22 (Beijing), the Musics of East Asia 7th Symposium (online), and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. His article, “Crossing the Bridge–The Story of the Class of ’78 and the Emergence of New Music in China” appeared in the 2018 World New Music Magazine of the International Society for Contemporary Music. Forthcoming articles include harmonic analyses of early works by Ma Sicong and an article on the role of folk music in the development of Chinese art music.

Jones is the recipient of an Utah Arts Council Artist Grant, an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship, and a Composer Assistance Grant from the American Music Center. His work “Sing the Earth” for orchestra won a Judges’ Commendation for Excellence in the 1995 Barlow International Competition. He is former chair of the Board of Directors of the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition. His music can be heard on the Gasparo and Tantara labels. His works for wind band are published by Boosey and Hawkes as part of their Windependence series.

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