Composer
Stephen James Webb
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Introduction
I am a misfit composer and interdisciplinary artist creating surreal performances and compositions that embrace the bizarre realities of 21st-century life. My work emerges from tech-fueled nostalgia, digital-age immediacy, melancholy, and humor. As a queer American expat from a low-income background who fled to Finland, I approach my art with a humanist perspective—highlighting social injustice and societal disengagement. I blend classical and experimental forms to explore themes of collective escapism, identity, and absurdity. My often melancholic works function as a “glitch” between traditional and digital cultures, merging high-art conventions with pop culture references.
The Sugar Factory application asked me to consider what opera can be. In response, I advocated for vulnerable and authentic characters that go beyond canonical voice types to increase performer diversity, for a more holistic integration of artistic disciplines into the very essence of the work, and for audience engagement on an intertextual level—an expectation increasingly shaped by the fluidity of art in a world that straddles both digital and physical spaces. I am excited to join this project and, together with my fellow selected artists, create something both poignant and deeply needed.