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Harvey J. Stokes

American composer and oboist

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 8, 2026
Entity authorityQ101693596 ↗
Source-derived summary

Harvey J. Stokes (born 1957) is an American composer and oboist. As of 2020, he is Professor of Music at Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia, where he founded and directs a Computer Music Laboratory. Stokes earned his PhD from Michigan State University, where he studied with Jere Hutcheson and Charles Ruggerio, his MM from the University of Georgia, and his BM from East Carolina University. His previous teaching appointments include Miami University, Christopher Newport University, and the College of William and Mary.

Stokes is a highly-prolific composer, whose output includes 11 piano sonatas, 8 string quartets, at least 4 symphonies, and many other works for ensembles large and small. His style could be described as neoclassical, with tonal centers and a focus on polyphony.

His work has been programmed by numerous prominent organizations, including the Richmond Symphony, the Lancaster Symphony, the Virginia Beach Symphony, the Oxford String Quartet, and the New England Conservatory Contemporary Ensemble.

A respected educator, Stokes received the 2017-18 Edward L. Hamm Sr. Distinguished Teaching Award at Hampton University, and has been a consultant for The College Board, the Educational Testing Service, and the Educational Policy Improvement Center for the Advanced Placement (AP) in Music program.

Stokes has also written two books, A Selected Annotated Bibliography on Italian Serial Composers (Lewiston, ME: E. Mellen Press, 1989) and Compositional Language in the Oratorio The Second Act: The Composer as Analyst (Lewiston, ME: E. Mellen Press, 1992).

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Harvey J. Stokes” as american composer and oboist. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1957, 2020, 2017, 1989—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1957-01-01. The account is most persuasive where Harvey, Stokes and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american composer and oboist. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q101693596. VIAF identifies the subject as 242939754. The Library of Congress control number is n88187883. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1957, 2020, 2017 and 1989.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Harvey J. Stokes”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Harvey J. Stokes primary sources, Harvey J. Stokes archive and Harvey research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Harvey J. Stokes”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Harvey J. Stokes” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.