Stanton Lanier is a composer, author, orchestrator, and believer with a vision to Create God Encounters for All Generations through Scripture-inspired instrumental music. Stanton’s sixteen albums feature twenty-five years of piano and orchestral compositions. Following his chemistry degree, M.B.A., and fifteen-year business career, Stanton founded the non-profit ministry Music to Light the World in 2004, which donated 75,000 CDs to cancer patients and others needing hope and healing in its first ten years. He has performed in 27 U.S. states, Canada, Europe, and Australia, and his music touches five million lives annually across 150 countries on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora, YouTube, Sirius-XM Spa, Music Choice Soundscapes and all streaming services.
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My music has received several awards including 2009 Best Holiday Album for December Peace (ZMR Awards, winning over Enya and Yo-Yo Ma), 2013 Best Piano Album Nominee (Open Spaces, ZMR), 2011 Best Neo-Classical Album Nominee and 2011 Notable Sacred Music (A Thousand Years, ZMR and Christianity Today). You can also hear my music on iTunes, Pandora, Spotify, Sirius XM Radio (Spa Channel), Music Choice Cable TV (Soundscapes Channel), Les Mills Fitness DVDs, and all streaming services.
After starting piano lessons at age six growing up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, my love for basketball made me want to quit at age twelve in Milton, Florida, but my parents didn’t let me. I began writing songs and singing at age fourteen. Playing and composing continued as a hobby while majoring in chemistry at Georgia Tech and completing an MBA at the University of Georgia. After five years working in consulting and insurance, in 1994, at age thirty, I reached a place of “career surrender.” Instead of striving to succeed, I began asking God what He wanted me to do, and I longed to hear His voice. This led to a ten-year financial planning career.
The piano was always a refuge for me throughout my life. I could sit down and step away from life’s busyness. When I began composing instrumentals I wanted them to convey a sense of God’s peace and hope. As people began to share powerful stories about how the songs were impacting their lives, I realized Scripture inspired piano is a unique way to share God’s story and my story.
This desire with my composing helps me hear Scripture as melody. About half the time this happens lyrically, meaning the piano is ‘singing’ the words from a verse. In other cases, a theme is being expressed through the music. From the time composing Scripture inspired piano was just an idea, and from the first melody to the newest, there has always been a very strong sense this was something much bigger than me and my abilities. My prayer as I compose is for everyone who encounters the music to sense God’s presence and to listen for His voice.
I live in Atlanta with my wife, and we have two adult children. I also enjoy U.S. and world travel, photography, and cooking. My two favorite quotes are “The aim and final end of all music should be unto the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul” (J.S. Bach), and “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive” (from Wild at Heart by John Eldredge).