Stephen completed his master’s degree at the University of Colorado, studying with Michael Thornton, and undergraduate degree with David Jolley at the Manhattan School of Music – both degrees with full-tuition scholarships. He kept solo engagements in New York City with the Manhattan Virtuosi and the Montauk Music Festival, as well as frequently performing with the critically-acclaimed Atlanta Boys Choir in Atlanta. Stephen has also performed at length with the Atlanta, Colorado, Charleston, Savannah, Evansville and Wyoming Symphony Orchestras. He has performed with the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder, was a guest artist with the Atlanta Symphony Brass Quintet at the Madison Music Festival, substitute horn of the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, CO, was a fellow at the Cape May Music Festival in New Jersey, guest of the 2000 Venezuelan Music Festival in Caracas, and was a scholarship winner at the Aspen Music Festival in 1998 & 1999. He was a guest artist at the 31st Annual International Horn Symposium and grand prizewinner of the Sixth Annual Sister Mary Faustina Memorial Concert Competition in Marylhurst, Oregon.