Sten Hostfalt, Lincoln Center New York City 2002. Photo: LU.

Carrying a pedagogical legacy as a facilitator of individually translated pragmatic and pronounced creative applications of knowledge with a 21st-century outlook on music education based on an internationally documented four-decade contribution to creative music and music education alongside leading musicians and artists of our time. Composer, guitarist, producer, proprietor, and educator Sten Hostfalt is credited with having produced one of the most riveting explorations of the microtonal world ever recorded (Signal to Noise), and as a genuinely innovative musician whose may be considered groundbreaking in the future (Jazz Review), showing just how far an instrument can be altered to meet experimental, adventurous needs, taking you on a journey to a place where anything is possible (All About Jazz).

A music instructor at the U.S.' #1 (U.S. News & World Report 2024) academic institution for education, Columbia University's Teachers College, and a music teacher for the NYC Department of Education. Mr. Hostfalt's membership of New York's music scene since 1994, activity on the U.S. East Coast scene since 1989, and internationally since 1981. Represents both informal and formal education, and multiple cultural traditions as manifested in 1980s DIY culture, and at the worlds most famous concert halls and academic institutions.

Since first being introduced to the teaching profession through a 1977 junior high school vocational program he has served as a guitar 
instructor at The Royal College of Music in Stockholm, at Queensborough Community College, the City University of New York*, and as a lecturer at New World School of The Arts, Miami FL, Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory of Music, and with Guillermo Klein's band at Colegio Ward and Centro Cultural San Martin, Buenos Aires, Argentina. In addition to teaching for New York Jazz Academy since 2009, at East Village's First Flight Music 2007-2015. And in 2022 as a NYC Department of Education teaching artist for Midori and Friends, an organization supported by The New York Council on the Arts, New York City Cultural Affairs, and the National Endowment of the Arts. * DISCLAIMER: Sten Hostfalt, Sonus Rex, and NYC Guitar Studio are not affiliated with Queensborough Community College or The City University of New York

A recipient of a Master of Music Education Degree from Columbia University's Teachers College. And from the Department of Education, a New York State K-12 teacher certification in Music Education by way of a Post-Masters Advanced Certificate in Music Education awarded by The City University of New York at Brooklyn College. Mr. Hostfalt also holds a Master of Music Degree in Jazz Composition, and a Graduate Diploma in Jazz Guitar Performance from New England Conservatory, as well as a Bachelors Degree in Professional Music from Berklee College of Music. All degrees received with academic honors, and merit scholarships and outstanding musicianship awards respectively.
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Through his private studio, or other schools or organizations, for the past thirty years, he has provided instructional assistance to students enrolled at academic institutions including: Juilliard School of Music, Columbia University, NYU New York University, Rockefeller University, The Royal College of Music in Stockholm KMH, Fiorello LaGuardia High School for The Performing Arts, City University of New York, Mannes School of Music, Brown University, Boston University and Berklee College of Music. His students have been accepted into performing arts programs at Manhattan School Of Music, Eastman School of Music, The New School for Social Research, SUNY Purchase, State University of New York, University of Michigan School of Music, The Special Music School at Kaufman Center NYC, Bard College, Frank Sinatra High School for the Arts, The Jazz Academy at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Western Illinois University WIU, and Berklee College of Music.

Publications featuring/representing Sten Hostfalt's pedagogical work: Fresh Music: Explorations With The Creative Workshop Ensemble
For Musicians, Artist and Teachers. by Jon Damian, YO Publications 2015.  ISBN 978-0-9863105-0-8. Library of Congress Control Nr. 2015901154. And Dictionnaire des musiques microtonales (1892-2013) Franck Jedrzejewski, L'Harmattan (France), 2014. 

Professional Membership:
United Federation of Teachers (UFT), New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), National Association for Music Education (NAfME), New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA), Music Educators Association New York (MEANYC), American Federation of Musicians (AFM) Local 802 Associated Musicians of Greater New York, Guitar Foundation of America (GFA), the Audio Engineering Society (AES), Society for Research in Music Education, The Society for Music Theory, Jazz Foundation of America, and Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI).

Collaborative work, recordings and concert appearances include legendary icons of American Music Jimmy Giuffre, Paul Bley, and masters of Jazz Rob McConnell, Bobby Shew, Gary Burton, Peter Erskine, and Clare Fischer. As well as shared concert events with Johnny Griffin, Ray Brown, Tower of Power, Woody Herman Big Band, Phil Woods, Niels-Henning Orsted-Pedersen, MOBY, and Keith Murray (Def Squad)

Principal instrument taught:
JAZZ GUITAR: guitar/plucked string instruments in improvised formats including 6, 8 and 12-string guitars
in standard tuning, open (folk) tunings, and microtonal tunings, left-hand techniques for interpretation of
microtones, two-hand (tapping) techniques, prepared guitar techniques, guitar with computer-processed
electronics, including looping and guitar synthesis. Familiarity with traditional and modern forms of Jazz,
Pop/Rock, Metal, Funk/Soul/R&B, Reggae, Folk, Progressive, Avantgarde, Microtonal & Beyond Category.

Secondary instruments taught:
classical guitar, electric bass guitar, electronic/digital music production
​(Pro Tools, Logic, Ableton, Reaper, Harrison Mixbus, Universal Audio LUNA,
and Steinberg Wavelab. Knowledge of ext. digital processing applications
include TC Electronics, SSL, Universal Audio, PSP, HOFA, and Eventide)

Tertiary instruments taught:
mandolin, ukulele, piano/keyboard, percussion/drums, voice, alto saxophone, clarinet and flute.

Additional rudimentary instrument understanding:
violin, viola, cello, trumpet, trombone, recorder, oud. 

Also teaching:
composition, arranging, music theory, ear training, ensemble, improvisation, music history and musicology,
music notation (Dorico), fundamentals of running an independent record label, producing and publishing.

Composing-arranging for ensembles, creative development of repertoires, and curricular outlines, are features of Sten Hostfalt's work as a musician and educator. As exemplified by his Teachers College Columbia University internship at Fordham at Jazz at The Lincoln Center, and the leadership of his own original projects including the 15-piece mixed winds, brass, strings and dance ensemble Dimensional States. As well as the direction of youth big bands at jazz festivals, and in competitions during the 1990s, all of which draws on a decade-long membership in Jazz orchestras led by Phil Wilson, Herb Pomeroy, and Guillermo Klein. In turn relating to conducting studies with George Monseur, (a student ​of Bernstein and Stokowski) and masterclasses with 20th century composers Toru Takemitsu, and Györgi ​Ligeti.

Educator philosophy: The representation of a longtime membership of the international creative music community, 
collaborators, and the innovative traditions of pioneering mentors, means carrying a legacy of pragmatic, experiential,
and transformative processes of individual-collaborate creativity through improvisation and the power of imagination.