Styskal
Madeline Styskal - composer, musicologist, performer, writer
I am passionate about using the arts, music especially, to promote mutual understanding and respect between Americans and Russians. This mission drives most of my creative endeavors, as well as lets me engage with local communities with my love for Russian language and culture and training as a composer.
Madeline Styskal (b. 1995) is a second-year doctoral student in musicology at the Butler School of Music, where she earned an M.M. in composition under Dr. Yevgeniy Sharlat. She holds an artist's certificate in composition studies with Vladimir Tarnopolsky from the Moscow Conservatory (2019-20) and a bachelor's in composition from the Moores School of Music, where she studied composition with Robert Smith, D.M.A. and David Ashley White, D.M.A., and piano performance with Tali Morgulis, D.M.A.
Some of her collaborations include a commission by the Kingwood Park High School Chamber Orchestra in 2016; the Veteran’s Songbook Project with HGOco., Grace After Fire, and local female veterans in 2017; ongoing writing for the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception choir in Moscow since 2016; and the 2021-23 theatrical-musical production The Women Have Something to Say. Her recent work, such as the soundscapes concept album Kommunalka, focuses on creating narratives in temporal frameworks through extra-, inter- and intra-textual quotation. Like Bill, she lives in Austin.
Education
2022-2027
University of Texas at Austin, Ph.D, musicology
2020-2022
University of Texas at Austin, M.M., composition
Awards
2023
American Prize in chamber-vocal composition, finalist
2023
Timberlake Graduate Essay Award, Central Slavic Conference
2018-19
U.S. Student Fulbright ETA alumna, Voronezh, Russia
Performances, Premieres
Solo
2023
Gubaidulina, Sofia. 4 Selections from Musical Toys, Music at the Meeting House, First Congregational Church of Houston
2019
Janacek, Leos. Piano Sonata I.X.1908 "From the Street." Myaskovsky Hall, Moscow State Conservatory
Group
2023
SoundProof, Bates Recital Hall, Butler School of Music, UT Austin
2022
Kommunalka, Mirror Room, Butler School of Music, UT Austin
2022
2021
SoundProof, Myaskovsky Hall, Moscow State Conservatory, Moscow
The Women Have Something to Say, MATCH, Houston