Haralabos [Harry] Stafylakis

Composer | Professor | Producer | Guitarist

 
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Educational Activities


A passionate lecturer and instructor, Haralabos has given guest lectures in composition, orchestration, the business of music, and music theory.

Since 2013, he has served on the Music Faculty of the City College of New York (CUNY), teaching composition, songwriting, and classical and pop music theory at all levels. Since 2022, he also lectures in Music & Technology at SUNY Purchase College Conservatory of Music and in 2022–23 was a guest lecturer in composition at Nazareth College (Rochester, NY). He has over a decade of experience as a guitar instructor.

Haralabos is available for Guest Speaking and Private Lesson engagements. Read testimonials from peers and students.

You can reach him through the Contact page.


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Guest Speaker

When traveling for concerts & premieres of his works, Harry enjoys connecting with the community through public talks, panel discussions, and guest lectures.

He has given guest talks at Manhattan School of Music, University of Memphis, University of Manitoba, University of British Columbia, University of Ottawa, Stamford Symphony Orchestra, and Winnipeg New Music Festival, among many others, and has presented on theory topics in film music and progressive metal at NYU and Temple University.

Harry directs the annual WNMF Composers Institute professional development program for emerging orchestral composers, and has served as composition faculty at the GroundSwell Pressure Waves composition intensive and the ICEBERG Institute Vienna.

He has led numerous music workshops with primary and secondary school music classes, ranging from lecture presentations to collaborative composition projects with the students.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he continues to offer guest lectures to the wider community, joining academic institutions remotely from his studio in Manhattan. To have Harry as a guest speaker, lecturer or masterclass instructor, contact him here.





 

Private Lessons

As a specialist in both classical and popular music styles, Harry offers private instruction in Composition, Theory, and Guitar:

  • Classical Composition techniques: writing for symphony orchestra, chamber ensemble, solo instruments, and voice

  • Metal/Rock/Pop Songwriting techniques: writing for voice, guitar, piano, drum set; song form, recording, mixing, production

  • Music Theory: from fundamentals to classical, romantic, contemporary, film, pop, and metal

  • Electric Guitar: specializing in metal, prog, shred, extended-range guitar (6-string, 7-string, 8-string, alternate tunings)

To book lessons, get in touch with Harry through the contact page.
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Testimonials

“Working with Professor Harry Stafylakis has been one of the most intellectually stimulating partnerships of my educational experience. I first met Professor Stafylakis at City College where I audited a theory class. His teaching style was engaging and his passion for all things music was at the core of his being. During private composition lessons I not only learned about composing, theory, and formatting but I also learned about what it means to be a member of a community of people dedicated to creating, performing and supporting new music.”

—Nehemiah Luckett | current M.A. Composition, Hunter College | Composer/Music Director, Rev. Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir


"Harry's professional experience and pedagogical versatility makes him a crucial member of our theory and composition faculty. Whether we need him to teach 18th-century voice leading, species counterpoint, or functional pop/rock harmony, he does it all with equal facility. And beyond the classroom, his active career as a composer and musician make him an ideal professional mentor for our students."

—Shaugn O'Donnell | Associate Professor and Music Department Chair, City College of New York


"Harry is an excellent teacher, both by virtue of his extensive and detailed knowledge of music, composition and orchestration, but also in his sincere enthusiasm for his subject, and his ability to hone in on exactly what a student might be struggling with. In my lessons with him at Groundswell 2017, and WNMFCI 2019, he was able to help me bring my work to a more professional level, particularly in the piece's notation and orchestration."

—Amy Brandon | founder, 21st Century Guitar | PhD Candidate, Dalhousie University


"Harry's flexibility & creativity towards different musical styles and techniques was so impressive that I had to re-evaluate my lesson plans and curriculum to match - making the growth of the studio expand during these years to a point where a we had two other teachers working with us just to keep up with demand.

His professionalism is unparalleled."

—Patrick Kearney | professor of classical guitar, McGill and Concordia Universities


"Harry Stafylakis exudes equally as much enthusiasm into being an educator as he does into his compositions. Learning from him allows you to set an inner standard of creating empathetically charged and moving music."

—Leah McKeehan | B.A. Music, City College of New York



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