Welcome Elaina Stuppler!

The International Children’s Arts Network and All Classical Portland are proud to announce composer and musician Elaina Stuppler as the 2022 Youth Roving Reporter! Over the next few months, Elaina will be working with ICAN to learn about radio production.

“As a Youth Roving Reporter, I’m most excited about sharing my love of music and creating compelling, uplifting, and inclusive content from a youth’s perspective,” Elaina said.

I asked Elaina to share music that has inspired her over the years. Here are her top 3 selections:

“Soul Bossa Nova” by Quincy Jones

What it means to Elaina:

I love how “Soul Bossa Nova” combines upbeat rhythms, powerful brass, and sneaky upper woodwind melodies to create a piece that has a “spy” sort of feel. It makes me want get up and dance!

“Hoe-Down” from “Rodeo” by Aaron Copland

Why Elaina chose this piece:

This is one of my favorite songs because there are so many textures used in orchestration, such as exciting chugging rhythms in strings, whimsical melodies, and thrilling and playful elements in the percussion. It incorporates both slow and fast tempos and ends with a bang!  It is such a joyful song that I can image being at a hoe-down, twirling to the beat of the music, and tapping my cowboy boot!

“Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles

What Elaina enjoys most about this song:

The song has such an optimistic feel, and makes me have hope during the winter that the sun will soon come out! You can even hear in the lyrics the reference to the brutal winter. “Little darlin’, it’s been a long, cold, lonely winter”. Yes, winter can be freezing, but at least you can sit by the fire and sip hot chocolate! What’s your favorite winter drink?

Stay tuned to ICAN to hear more from Elaina!

About Elaina:

Elaina Rae Stuppler is an award-winning composer and singer. She attended Crossroads School for the Arts in Santa Monica, California where she studied vocal arts, composing, trombone, violin, and recently received the U.S. President’s Education Award.

The Oregon Symphony named Elaina as their first Luna Composition Lab recipient where her piece, Anxious Alignment, had its world premiere at their 125th Gala Anniversary. The Portland Youth Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Youth Symphony have also commissioned pieces by her. Elaina is a member of the Young Composers Project and will have her orchestral composition debuted in 2023.