Guest Artist 2026

Stacie Mickens joined the UNT College of Music faculty as an associate professor of horn in August 2018. Prior to her appointment, she was associate professor at the Dana School of Music, Youngstown State University, and also previously served on the faculties of Luther College (Decorah, IA) and Winona State University (Winona, MN). She completed her doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Michigan as a recipient of the Rackham Fellowship Award. There, she studied with former Philadelphia Orchestra member and jazz musician Adam Unsworth and with Detroit Symphony member Bryan Kennedy. She holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she studied with renowned horn pedagogue Douglas Hill. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in music and English from Luther College, studying horn with Patricia Brown and piano with John Strauss.  

As an orchestral musician, Mickens has performed with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Plano Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Opera, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Chamber Winds, Blossom Music Festival, Monarch Brass, Madison Symphony Orchestra, and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. She previously held positions in orchestras in Akron, Wheeling, Youngstown, Lansing, Dearborn, Southwest Michigan, La Crosse, Waterloo-Cedar Falls, and Dubuque. She is currently the principal horn of Richardson Symphony Orchestra.  

She has enjoyed solo performances with the UNT Wind Symphony, UNT Symphony Orchestra, UNT Concert Orchestra, Youngstown State University Wind Ensemble, Luther College Symphony Orchestra, Akron Symphony, Erie Young Artists’ Debut Orchestra, Packard Band, and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony. 

Mickens’ solo recorded album From the Great Lakes was released in 2020 and features new works composed for her by David Morgan and James Wilding. “Stacie Mickens’s playing is superb; her musicality has a sort of confidence that makes one feel entirely secure in her hands (given the precarious nature of the French horn, that’s no mean compliment). This is a most enjoyable disc, well recorded and presented.” – Fanfare Nov/Dec 2020. “Stacie Mickens…shows masterful control of her instrument throughout the CD, displaying the diverse sound quality of the horn with beautifully lyrical and melancholic playing…”– Brass Band World Dec 2020 

Mickens is a founding member of Lantana Trio with her colleagues Raquel Samayoa, trumpet, and Natalie Mannix, trombone. Lantana has commissioned works for brass trio by Jeff Scott, Ivette Herryman Rodriguez, Shanyse Strickland, Dorothy Gates, and Erik Morales. These works will be featured on Lantana Trio’s debut album to be released in 2022. The group co-hosted the International Women’s Brass Conference at UNT May 24-28, 2022. 

As a young musician, Mickens participated in drum and bugle corps and marching arts activities. She was a member of Star of Indiana’s Brass Theater, the world champion Cadets, and Colts.