Norwood Composer Stephen M. Monahan Premieres “The Prophet” at the Day House-October 17, 1983

Classical music composer Stephen M. Monahan takes his craft with uncompromising seriousness, carrying no illusions about finding sudden wealth in the art form.

“I would not like to be poor all my life, but I might be,” the 26-year-old Walpole Street resident remarked while preparing for the professional premiere of his debut major work, “The Prophet—A Song Cycle,” performed yesterday at the historic Norwood Historical Society’s Day House.

The weekend performances drew strong community support, with roughly 60 attendees on Saturday night and about 50 people filling the Day House for yesterday’s afternoon concert.

A Musical Adaptation of Kahlil Gibran

Monahan was commissioned for the project by the Historical Society through a dedicated grant awarded by the Norwood Arts Council and the state Arts Lottery.

The composition serves as a musical adaptation of passages from Kahlil Gibran‘s renowned 1923 spiritual and philosophical classic, The Prophet. Historically, Gibran enjoyed a personal connection to Norwood as a protégé of Fred Holland Day—the celebrated Norwood publisher, photographer, and patron of the arts who resided at the very estate hosting the performance.

Artistic Vision and Commercial Lines

With a demeanor that matches his calling—wearing a classic black tuxedo, white shirt, black bow tie, and black shoes, punctuated by thoughtful sips of coffee and cigarettes—Monahan is clear-eyed about where his artistic boundaries lie.

While he writes popular music for the Roxbury-based dance band Adventure Set and envisions scoring films or utilizing arts grants in his career, commercial jingles are entirely off the table:

• “There’s a lot of money in commercials, but I don’t want to put my music to toothpaste,” he stated firmly.

Monahan’s musical foundation was forged during his sophomore year at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, where he mastered composition and gained a working command of every instrument in an orchestral ensemble. He also spent a year studying at the University of London through a student exchange program before earning his bachelor of arts degree in music from UMass the previous September. Currently, he studies under renowned pianist-composer Marek Zebrowski, who teaches at MIT and UMass.

Describing his creative impulse, Monahan noted, “I’m driven to compose… I can’t wait to compose more.” While characterizing his style as “sort of uplifting,” he embraces dark, serious themes and constantly studies the masters, observing, “Mozart is one person who constantly amazes me. He has a great genius. I study his technique a lot.”

Expanding into Film and Theatre

Monahan’s creative output extends well beyond the concert hall:

• Film Scoring and Acting: He recently obtained a supporting acting role in the low-budget horror-comedy feature I Married A Vampire, slated to be filmed locally in Boston, and was separately hired to compose its original musical score.
• Local Theatre: Earlier in the year, Monahan took the stage as the would-be boxer Sandy Tyrell in the Walpole Footlighters production of Noël Coward’s Hay Fever. He has also taken acting coursework at Harvard University.

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger