Steve Rouse is an American composer born in 1953 in Moss Point, Mississippi. He began his journey into music at the tender age of five, engaging in both composition and improvisation. His early musical training encompassed piano, bassoon, and saxophone. At thirteen, Rouse spent four years as a bassoonist with the Gulf Coast Symphony while also performing with his initial rhythm and blues group.
Rouse studied under notable composition instructors, including Luigi Zaninelli at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he earned a Bachelor of Music in Theory/Composition. He continued his education at the University of Michigan, obtaining both his Master of Music and Doctorate of Music in composition, studying with Leslie Bassett and William Albright. During his time as a graduate student, he served three years as Music Director and accompanist for the Dance Department at Eastern Michigan University and co-founded a successful jingle production company in the Ann Arbor/Detroit area. His academic work culminated in the publication of "Hexachords and Their Trichordal Generators: An Introduction" in the December 1985 issue of the music theory journal In Theory Only.
From 1995 to 1998, Rouse held the position of Composer in Residence for the Meet The Composer Louisville Residency. In this role, he composed music for public school music ensembles at various levels and collaborated with students, teachers, and administrators to develop musical outreach programs. This position allowed him to work closely with local government and social service agencies, leading to initiatives like the successful Young Composers program.
In 1988, Rouse joined the faculty at the University of Louisville after teaching at the University of Utah and serving as a Teaching Fellow at the University of Michigan. He was a full-time Visiting Professor of Composition at Indiana University Bloomington in the spring of 1999. Currently, he is a Professor of Theory and Composition at the University of Louisville School of Music.
Rouse's compositions have been performed internationally in countries such as Ecuador, England, Italy, the Soviet Union, Taiwan, and Venezuela, as well as throughout the United States. His works have been featured by prominent ensembles, including the St. Louis Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony, the Louisville Orchestra, and the American Composers Orchestra. Additionally, his recordings have gained airplay globally. He has received commissions from several organizations, including the Louisville Orchestra and the University of Michigan Contemporary Directions Ensemble for the 1984 National Organ Conference. Notable recordings of his works include "Into the Light," recorded by the Cincinnati Symphony for Telarc Records, and "Enigma," recorded by Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony for Delos Records.
Rouse’s trumpet sonata, "The Avatar," recorded by Ray Mase, is available on Summit Records, while his pieces "More Light," "The Avatar," and "A Flying Leap!" have been recorded by trumpeter Michael Tunnell for Coronet. A new solo CD is anticipated for release on the Centaur label in 2009. His compositions are published by C. F. Peters, Manhattan Beach Music, MMB, and Primal Press.
Among his accolades, Rouse is a recipient of the Rome Prize and has been awarded a three-year Meet The Composer residency, a National Endowment for the Arts Composition Fellowship, the Hinrichsen Prize and Ives Composition Prize from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, as well as three Al Smith Artist Fellowships from the Kentucky Arts Council. He won First Prize in the Dartmouth Competition for New Choral Music for his work "Dense Pack," received multiple ASCAP awards, and was honored with the Research and Creative Achievement Award from the University of Louisville. Rouse is included in the millennium edition of Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Classical Musicians, Ninth Edition (2000).
