Mr. Stiebler studied composition and piano at the Musikhochschule Hamburg, but had more important lessons at Darmstadt from 1958-61, including studies with Karlheinz Stockhausen in 1959.

His honors include the Bach-Preis Hamburg (1966) and a prize from the Stille Musik composition seminar in the Künstlerhaus Boswil (1991). Moreover, two of his productions for Hessischer Rundfunk received the Prix Italia Special Prize: Piece for Peace by Alvin Curran and Die Blinden by Walter Zimmermann.

Mr. Stiebler is also active in other positions. He served as director of new music for Hessischer Rundfunk from 1969-95 and founded the concert series Forum Neue Musik there in 1989. He co-produced numerous CDs for Hessischer Rundfunk in collaboration with the Hat Hut label, including the series devoted to the New York School (John Cage, Morton Feldman and Christian Wolff). In addition, he has written numerous essays for Musik-Konzepte, MusikTexte and other music journals, as well as booklet notes for the Montaigne Auvidis CD of Words and Music by Morton Feldman.