Steph Davis

Steph Davis is a marimbist and cultural activist. Their music engages traditions, epistemologies, and aesthetics from the African diaspora as means for uncovering truthful historiographies, finding creative self-actualization, and reaching for collective liberation.

Hailed by The Washington Post as a "crisp, controlled" performer who “is engaged in deep explorations of acoustic and historical resonance,” Steph tours the U.S. as a marimba soloist and chamber musician. Encompassing African American spirituals, the Black classical tradition, West African gyil music, and contemporary classical music, Steph’s performances push the boundaries of genre while centering African-descended people and cultures. Through their arrangements and commissions, Steph has contributed over 20 works by Black composers to the marimba's solo and chamber repertoire. They have premiered works by Alissa Voth, Damien Geter, and Pamela Z, among others. Steph proudly endorses Marimba One instruments and mallets as a Marimba One Premier Artist.

A researcher and scholar of African American music, Steph is a teaching artist with Castle of our Skins, a Black arts institution. They are also an instructor of music theory at the Boston Conservatory. They have presented performances and masterclasses on marimba and vibraphone at the University of Central Florida, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the Center of Mallet Percussion Research at Kutztown University. Steph has been awarded residencies at the Goethe-Institut Boston, Avaloch Farm Music Institute, and Boston Center for the Arts.

Steph received their Master of Music in marimba performance from Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where they studied with Nancy Zeltsman. They also hold a Bachelor of Music in percussion performance from the Conservatory.

Steph resides on unceded land of the Neponset band of the Massachusett tribe, bordertown Boston, MA.