Furman University

Mark Kilstofte

GREENVILLE, S.C.—Furman University music professor Mark Kilstofte has received a 2012 Individual Artist Fellowship for music composition from the South Carolina Arts Commission.

Kilstofte was also named a music composition fellow in 2001.

The South Carolina Arts Commission Board awards fellowships to four South Carolina artists in the categories of visual arts, craft, music performance and music composition. Each artist receives $5,000 to advance their careers.

The SC Arts Commission board approves fellowships based on recommendations made by out-of-state review panelists who select fellows based solely on a review of anonymous work samples.

Professor of music theory and composition at Furman since 1992, Kilstofte studied with William Albright, Leslie Bassett and William Bolcom at the University of Michigan, where he was a Rackham Predoctoral Fellow and assistant conductor of the music ensemble “Contemporary Directions.”

His music is performed regularly throughout the U.S. and Canada and in concert halls from Moscow to Bangkok. Kilstofte’s works have garnered many awards, including the Rome Prize, the Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship and the Charles Ives Scholarship, both from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

He has received the Aaron Copland Award three times and was named a Fromm Music Foundation Commission recipient in 2006. His compositions have also been featured on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today.” Kilstofte holds a Master’s and Doctorate from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor’s from St. Olaf College in Minnesota.

For more information, contact the Furman News and Media Relations Office at (864) 294-3107.