Steven Stenzel’s music studies began first on piano and then on horn.  While attending the Vienna International School in Vienna, Austria, he performed as horn soloist with a semi-professional chamber ensemble.  In 1985 he returned to the United States to attend the Conservatory of Music at Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois. 

While at Wheaton College, Steven conducted performances of “The King and I”; he was teaching assistant in the theory department for three years and studied piano with William Phemister.  He graduated in 1989 with a degree in music education and returned to Europe later that year as guest instructor (piano and conducting) at the Bibelschule Bergstrasse, in southern Germany.  Completing that, Steven returned to the Chicago area to pursue further music studies.

Steven earned his MMEd at Northwestern University while teaching middle school band in Lake Zurich, Illinois.  He was also conductor of the Fox Valley Youth Symphony for three seasons and led them on three European tours.  He studied conducting under Paul Wiens, John Paynter, and Donald Owens.

In addition to his public school position, Steven has conducted the Round Lake Area Community Band, teaches piano and theory privately,  freelances on piano and horn and has been involved with numerous musicals at the Prairie Center for the Arts in Schaumburg, Illinois.  He currently lives in a northwest suburb of Chicago with his wife, Joyce, an accomplished clarinetist, and his three children, Rachel, Anna, and Nathan.