Hartke is best known as the composer of Meanwhile – Incidental Music to Imaginary Puppet Plays, winner of the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2013.
[1] Following a twenty six-year tenure at the Thornton School of Music of the University of Southern California, Hartke became the head of Oberlin Conservatory's composition department on July 1, 2015.
In 2015, he took Emeritus status at USC when he moved to Oberlin Conservatory to chair its composition department.
[4] Hartke has received commissions from numerous groups, including the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for the new Brandenburg Project, Glimmerglass Opera (for The Greater Good, or the Passion of Boule de Suif), the New York Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, and the Hilliard Ensemble.
Stephen Hartke lives in Oberlin, Ohio, with his wife Lisa Stidham and their son Sandy.