Tickets are now on sale for the inaugural Mizzou New Music Summer Festival, which will be held Monday, July 12 through Sunday, July 18 in Columbia, MO.
The weeklong series of events will include four public concerts, culminating in the world premieres of new works written by eight international composers and performed by the acclaimed new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound at 2:00 p.m., Sunday, July 18 in the newly renovated Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts (MTCA), 203 S. Ninth St. in downtown Columbia.
Other public performances at the MTCA will include the festival’s opening concert by Alarm Will Sound at 7:30 p.m. Monday, July 12; a solo performance by pianist and resident performing artist Lisa Moore at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 13; and “Composers That Rock,” a chamber music concert featuring Moore and Maestro Kirk Trevor at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 15.
More than 120 composers, representing countries including the People’s Republic of China, France, Spain, Turkey, Korea, Mexico and the United States, submitted composition portfolios to participate in the festival. Eight were selected to represent a cross-section of the diverse landscape of music being created today. They are:
* Francisco Cortes-Alvarez, who was born in Mexico City and currently is studying music at Indiana University;
* Christopher Dietz, a Milwaukee native who is a visiting assistant professor at the Oberlin Conservatory in Oberlin, OH;
* Paul Dooley, a Californian and doctoral student at the University of Michigan;
* Moon Young Ha, a PhD student in composition and music theory at New York University;
* Edie Hill, who lives in Minneapolis and is composer-in-residence for The Schubert Club in St. Paul;
* Amy Beth Kirsten, a former Chicagoan now living in New Haven, CT;
* Jeremy Podgursky, born in Louisville, KY and now a doctoral fellow at Indiana University; and
* Zhou Juan, a native of Sichuan, China who recently completed course work for the doctor of musical arts degree at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
During the festival the eight composers will receive private composition lessons from guest composers Martin Bresnick, recipient of the first Charles Ives Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and Derek Bermel, composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Additionally, they will take part in workshops with Alarm Will Sound, participate in master classes and receive a professional live recording of their work.
The Inaugural Mizzou New Music Summer Festival is part of the Mizzou New Music Initiative, a diverse array of programs launched by the University of Missouri’s School of Music intended to position the school as a leading center for music composition and new music. The initiative is a direct result of a $1 million donation by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation led by Dr. Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield. Their vision is to create an incubator for the composition and performance of new music, and to showcase Missouri as a center for the music of tomorrow.
“The talent of these new composers is staggering,” said Dr. Sinquefield. “Mixing their talent at the festival with major composers Bresnick and Bermel and Alarm Will Sound will be a crazy, wonderful event. I cannot wait for the resulting concert. This is a concert that cannot be missed. And for the participants, this will be a week they will never forget. Their combined talent is overwhelming. Anyone interested in development of American composition needs to come.”
The participating composers were selected through a portfolio application process by Dr. Stefan Freund, associate professor of music theory and composition, and Dr. W. Thomas McKenney, professor of music theory and composition, electronic music, who both teach at the University of Missouri-Columbia’s School of Music and are resident composers for the festival. The selected composers each will create a new work up to nine minutes long for Alarm Will Sound’s complete instrumentation, which can be viewed at www.alarmwillsound.com.
Festival passes good for admission to all four concerts are on sale for $35 for adults, $20 for students. Single tickets are priced at $10 for adults, $5 for students for the concerts on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday; and $15 for adults, $10 for students for the final concert on Sunday. Tickets can be charged by phone by calling the MTCA box office at 573-875-0600 or purchased online at www.motheatre.org. (There is a $2 per ticket fee for online purchases; phone purchases will not be charged a fee.)
For a complete listing of the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival events, visit http://newmusicsummerfestival.missouri.edu/. The programs of the Mizzou New Music Initiative have been made possible through the generous support of the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation . The City of Columbia Office of Cultural Affairs also provided financial assistance for the Mizzou New Music Festival.