United States–native turned European Northener, Stephen Webb is a composer and interdisciplinary art maker based in Helsinki. His work explores surreal abstraction, placing materials outside their assumed pasts, presents, and futures. Webb creates sardonic and melancholic worlds that leave audiences in distorted yet vaguely familiar soundscapes.
His 2025–2026 season includes the premiere of his violin concerto I Heard It Was Collapsing with soloist Tami Pohjola and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra; the chamber opera The Mouthpiece for the Finnish National Opera and Ballet; and his transdisciplinary stage work Program Selection at Ģertrūdes ielas teātris in Riga, Latvia.
Webb’s recent collaborators include the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestra, Helsinki Chamber Choir, K!ART, Defunensemble, Ahjo Ensemble, and the Bowery Trio. His music has been released on Alba Records and Pilfink.
His transdisciplinary projects have been presented at Sounding Now Festival (Singapore), 1646 Project Space (The Hague), Slurps Stage (Helsinki), New Blood Performance Festival (Chicago), and Flow Festival (Helsinki). In 2021, his monologue opera Angels, Instead was shown at the Rupert Centre as part of the curatorial program of the 14th Baltic Triennial (Vilnius).
Webb is an active contributor to both the new music and live art ecosystems. He serves as the treasurer of Ung Nordisk Musik Finland and was selected as a curator for the Finnish Live Art Society’s 2025–26 programming. As a researcher, he received a year-long fellowship from the American-Scandinavian Foundation to examine the state of contemporary music in Finland as part of the country’s centennial anniversary of independence.
He studied composition at the Sibelius Academy and the Chicago College of Performing Arts, and live art and performance at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Theatre Academy Helsinki.
His 2025–2026 season includes the premiere of his violin concerto I Heard It Was Collapsing with soloist Tami Pohjola and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra; the chamber opera The Mouthpiece for the Finnish National Opera and Ballet; and his transdisciplinary stage work Program Selection at Ģertrūdes ielas teātris in Riga, Latvia.
Webb’s recent collaborators include the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestra, Helsinki Chamber Choir, K!ART, Defunensemble, Ahjo Ensemble, and the Bowery Trio. His music has been released on Alba Records and Pilfink.
His transdisciplinary projects have been presented at Sounding Now Festival (Singapore), 1646 Project Space (The Hague), Slurps Stage (Helsinki), New Blood Performance Festival (Chicago), and Flow Festival (Helsinki). In 2021, his monologue opera Angels, Instead was shown at the Rupert Centre as part of the curatorial program of the 14th Baltic Triennial (Vilnius).
Webb is an active contributor to both the new music and live art ecosystems. He serves as the treasurer of Ung Nordisk Musik Finland and was selected as a curator for the Finnish Live Art Society’s 2025–26 programming. As a researcher, he received a year-long fellowship from the American-Scandinavian Foundation to examine the state of contemporary music in Finland as part of the country’s centennial anniversary of independence.
He studied composition at the Sibelius Academy and the Chicago College of Performing Arts, and live art and performance at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Theatre Academy Helsinki.
© Tim KliukoitListen & Purchase
︎ SoundCloud
︎ Scores from Music Finland
Contact
︎ stephenwebb1994 (at) gmail.com
Memberships & Associations
︎ Suomen Säveltäjät
︎ GAP Art Point
︎ Catalysti