“The program also included a performance of Ingrid Stölzel’s Into Being (2011), based on the Sanskrit Mantra “So ham ham sa,” an onomatopoetic evocation of breathing. Its sweet harmonies offered a pleasant concert opening.”

San Francisco Classical Voice, March 7, 2017.

Joe Cadagin: Mantras, Miracles, and Meditations From Volti Chamber Choir”

 

“A professor at the University of Kansas, she writes music that connects through its formal beauty, faultless orchestration, and revealing honesty.”

Cara Lieruance, WMUK 102.1 Radio Station, January 10, 2017

 

 

“Fort Worth-based pianist Shields-Collins Bray, who also served as emcee for the program, followed up with “In the Midst” by Ingrid Stolzel, a member of the faculty at the University of Kansas. Stolzel wrote the work for 2001 Cliburn co-Gold Medalist Stanislav Ioudenitch in memory of pianist Van Cliburn; it opens with three of the grand introductory chords of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (Cliburn’s most famous signature piece) and immediately turns into a six-minute reflection on Cliburn and Tchaikovsky with a quiet close. This appropriation of familiar musical material in a modern setting gives the piece an Ivesian sensibility, neatly balancing concept with a succinct form.”

TheaterJones.com –North Texas Performing Arts News, October 10, 2016

Wayne Lee Gay” Review: American Piano | The Cliburn”

 

 

“The featured work of this concert - Ingrid Stölzel's The More Things Change (2012) - was commissioned by the ensemble for this year's anniversary season. Tranquil at first, an intended feeling of urgency and permanence was quickly established in the music while a romantic melody was passed among the performers. Particularly beautiful were the rich harmonies presented in the violin and cello, which grounded the ears and spirit yet assisted the ever-forward intensity.”

KCMetropolis, September 12, 2012

Anthony Rogers “newEar dreams in its 20th Season”

 

 

“The More Things Change by Kansas City favorite Ingrid Stölzel highlighted the opening concert of the newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble’s 20th season Saturday night in Kansas City. Sweet and wistful…Stölzel’s music is familiar territory here, and over too soon. She says that ‘the more things change, the more my desire for permanence increases’ and she gives eloquent voice to this sentiment in this enchanting music.”

The Kansas City Star, September 9, 2012

John Heuertz “Divergent Dreams opens newEar’s 20th anniversary season”

 

 

“The most evocative and pleasing of all to me [on Claviatures] is Ingrid Stölzel's "The Road is All," which has a kind of haunting feeling of lyrical reflection and suspension in time and memory.”

Classical-Modern Review, April,3 2012, Grego Applegate Edwards

 

 

“The final piece on the program [CD Claviatures] is, however, a lovely work by Ingrid Stolzel: The Road is All. It is…a tender and beautiful work.”

American Record Guide , March/April 2012, Ira Byelick

 

 

“Chiude l’evocativo trio The Road is All (per pianoforte,violino e violoncello) di Ingrid Stolzel: brano di toccante emotività, espressa con un ritegno che lascia spazio all’eleganza della tessitura strumentale.”

[The CD] closes with the evocative trio The Road is All (for piano, violin and cello) by Ingrid Stolzel: a composition of poignant emotion, expressed with restraint that leaves room for the elegance of the instrumental texture.

Kathodik, January 23, 2012, Filippo Focosi

 

 

In “For the Time Being,” her exploration of the temporal nature of music, Stölzel created a beautiful sense of impermanence as each new idea seemed to flow easily into the next. The combination of Jan Faidley’s soprano saxophone and Lyra Pherigo’s flute was quite inspired. The directness in the soprano saxophone tone was incomparable, sounding like a clarinet in one phrase, an English horn in another, a flute at one point, but still always uniquely its own.

The Kansas City Star, February 13, 2012

Andrea Fowler “newEar explores a world of sound”

 

 

Ingrid Stölzel’s For the Time Being (2011)—while internally complex—is disarmingly pretty. The piece is part of a series of works that examine the passage of time. It felt expansively Proustian. The subtle, striving lines from flute (Lyra Pherigo) and soprano saxophone (Jan Faidley) were performed with a velvety tone quality, especially for high woodwinds. They were grounded by a bold, deliberate piano, performed with assured intensity by Robert Pherigo.

KC Metropolis, February 15, 2012

Libby Hanssen “newEar conjures sonic worlds”

 

 

Ingrid Stölzel’s new composition for flute, soprano saxophone and piano offers great beauty for the listener, plus intriguing expressive and technical challenges for each of the performers. The flute and soprano sax parts are balanced partners, while the piano undertakes an impetuous, omniscient-narratorly, cantus firmus role, with occasional upper-register tolling that explicitly marks the passage of time. “For the Time Being” was a commmission by the Greenbrook Ensemble in Nashville. The work that resulted from their commission is a phenomenally beautiful and poignant addition to the trio repertoire for flute, soprano sax, and piano.”

Chamber Music Today, January 31, 2012

Doug McNair “Ingrid Stölzel’s Exploration of Time and Identity”

 

 

“The concert concluded with three works performed by the NAU Wind Symphony, conducted by Daniel Schmidt. Ingrid Stölzel’s Panta Rhei, a lyrical and expressive work, received a strong performance by the NAU Ensemble. The term Panta Rhei, from the Greek “everything flows,” is attributed to the philosopher Heraclitus who believed that all things are in constant flux. Stölzel’s music successfully encapsulated this concept with its organic unfolding, transparent texture and flowing lines.”

Journal of the IAWM, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2011, Julie Cross

 

 

"There are Things to be Said….was direct and simple, yet expressive, and the whole was more than the sum of its parts.”

The Hays Daily News, 9/24/2009

Ruth Firestone “Allegresse trio brings joy to Hays”

 

 

“Stölzel's work With Both Eyes is all about melody. The work is strung together with strands of the melody played by all the members in the ensemble. This particular quartet was flute, guitar, piano and vibes. The piece is comprised of melodic fragments that are woven together into a seamless fabric of sound. The resulting form is more organic and emotional than a more process-driven structure.”

KC Metropolis, November 1, 2008, Scott Easterday

 

 

“Ingrid Stölzel, whose innocently formal string quartet was heard here some years back, has ventured into more rhapsodic realms, if her "Lucid Dream" is an indication. Scored for clarinet, cello, piano and percussion, the piece whirs with spiky ostinatos in mirrored pairs, while the occasional longer floats and jabs. Machine-like, but delightfully so, Stölzel's idiom rests squarely in chunky counterpoint. The result, musically, is confident and bold."

The Register-Guard Northwest, Eugene, Oregon, July 11, 2002

Tom Manoff "Oregon Bach Festival spotlight shines on younger composers"

Tom Manoff reviews classical music for National Public Radio's "All Things Considered"

 

 

"A colorful and delightful chamber work, Barefoot, (for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion and piano, 2001), by German-American composer Ingrid Stölzel provided a welcomed contrast to the overall serious mood at the concert. The composer wrote in her program notes: "writing this piece has been my refuge, my path to a place in my memory and my existence, where I can feel the comfort and the strength of beauty in its simplest form." Stölzel reveals herself to be a lovely poet as well as a fine composer.

Journal of the IAWM, Volume 9, No. 2, 2003, Jeannie Pool

 

 

"But the other real treat on the program was the premiere of an upbeat, well-disciplined piece by newEar composer Ingrid Stoelzel. "Into the Blue" is a fresh, busily minimalist venture into the wide-open-spaces sound we associate with Aaron Copland and Philip Glass. Its episodic sections moved things steadily forward with a gentle sense of ebb and flow. Meanwhile the intricate orchestration provided lots of inner voices to keep the ear and mind busy."

The Kansas City Star, April 29, 2003

Paul Horsley "Youth Symphony shows there's hope for classical music"

 

 

"Ingrid Stölzel's string quartet "Impulse" is set in three movements: "Electrical Impulse, " Mechanical Impulse" and "Nerve Impulse." Because of time constraints, only the first was performed. This proved unfortunate, because the first movement does not stand alone and, as the score indicates, its meaning was to be had within the complete work. However, the abbreviated reading revealed a composer of considerable gifts. Her incisive sense of motivic development and harmony supports a rigorous pursuit of formal clarity. I thank the composer for access to the score, which allowed me to complete the "impulse" that opened the piece."

The Register-Guard Northwest, July 9, 1998

Tom Manoff "Young composers express varied gifts"

Tom Manoff reviews classical music for National Public Radio's "All Things Considered"

 

 

"The premiere of Ingrid Stölzel's "Barefoot," by contrast was a lush and sensual evocation of pastoral pleasures, inspired by the randomly triggered sense memories associated with varied impressions of the natural world. The piece, richly scored for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion and piano, succeeded admirably in its intricate interweaving of sights, sounds, smells and textures."

The Kansas City Star, January 28, 2002

Robert Eisele "East and West meet in eclectic "Sound Gardens"

 

 

"Under the umbrella title "Expectations", the programmatically adventurous evening got off to a strong start with Ingrid Stölzel's "Between the Lines." The piece juxtaposed a staccato piano line against the fluid, silky flourishes of flute and cello. Stölzel has imagined the composition as a partnership between the composer and listener, and as such it emerges as an intriguing and ultimately satisfying work. Much as the viewer's eye assimilates the multicolored points of a Seurat painting, Stölzel asks the audience to play an active role in experiencing her music."

The Kansas City Star, September 11, 2004

Robert Eisele "Adventurous 'Expectations' offered by newEar"

 

 

"Ingrid Stölzel's seven-movement suite titled "Vital Signs" (2000) was inspired by the seven chakras, or energy seats of the body, in Eastern metaphysics. Stölzel's work, for mixed ensemble of flute, bass clarinet, horn, percussion, violin, cello, and piano, is a set of short musical aphorisms or mottos, each evoking the character of a chakra. Though neo-Romantic in its tonal, melodic construction, the work had a fresh directness that was utterly contemporary."

The Kansas City Star, January 29, 2001

Mickey Coalwell "Fascinating newEar performance tells stories through music"

 

 

"Ingrid Stoelzel's brief "Lights Out!" (1999) for solo cello is emblematic of the new music: gently minimalist at turns, almost mantralike, but with Bach-tinged interjections to lend gravity."

The Kansas City Star, March 25, 2000

Paul Horsley "NewEar helps prepare audiences for new music in new millennium"

 

 

"The newest piece on the program was Ingrid Stoelzel's "Lucid Dream," a savy and exuberent six-minute exploration of the possibilities inherent in a tiny motivic cell."

The Kansas City Star, May 19, 2000

Paul Horsley "NewEar presents Altered States"