Stacie Mickens joined the UNT College of Music faculty as an associate professor of horn in August 2018. Prior to her appointment, she was associate professor at the Dana School of Music, Youngstown State University, and also previously served on the faculties of Luther College (Decorah, IA) and Winona State University (Winona, MN). She completed her doctorate of musical arts at the University of Michigan as a recipient of the Rackham Fellowship Award. There she studied with former Philadelphia Orchestra member and jazz musician Adam Unsworth and with Detroit Symphony member Bryan Kennedy. She holds a master of music degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she studied with renowned horn pedagogue Douglas Hill. She received a bachelor of arts degree in music and English from Luther College, studying horn with Patricia Brown and piano with John Strauss.
As an orchestral musician, Mickens has performed with Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Plano Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Opera, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Chamber Winds, Blossom Music Festival, Monarch Brass, Madison Symphony Orchestra, and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. She previously held positions in the following symphony orchestras: Akron, Wheeling, Youngstown, Lansing, Dearborn, Southwest Michigan, La Crosse, Waterloo-Cedar Falls, and Dubuque.
Representing the University of Michigan, Mickens performed in recital at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. as part of the Millennium Stage’s Conservatory Project. In 2011 and 2012, she was invited to perform at the Thy Chamber Music Festival, and gave several concerts in the northwest region of Denmark. David Morgan composed When Penguins Fly (concerto for horn and wind ensemble) for her in 2018. The piece was premiered at the 2018 Ohio Music Education Association Convention (OMEA) in Columbus, OH by Mickens and the YSU Wind Ensemble. She has enjoyed additional concerto performances with the following groups: UNT Wind Symphony, UNT Symphony Orchestra, UNT Concert Orchestra, Luther College Symphony Orchestra, Akron Symphony, Erie Young Artists’ Debut Orchestra, Packard Band, and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony.
Mickens performed and presented at the 50th International Horn Symposium in 2018 and at the International Women’s Brass Conferences in 2019 and 2017. She has been a regional guest artist at the 2018 Mid-South Horn Workshop, the 2015 and 2016 Northeast Horn Workshops, the 2013 Southeast Horn Workshop, and the 2006 Midwest Horn Workshop.
As a young musician, Mickens participated in drum and bugle corps and marching arts activities. She was a member of Star of Indiana’s Brass Theater, world champion Cadets, and Colts.