The Mizzou International Composers Festival (MICF) will celebrate its fifth year in 2014, and composers Beat Furrer and Nico Muhly will be among those attending the party. Furrer and Muhly have been named guest composers for the Mizzou New Music Initiative’s signature event, which will be held Monday, July 21 through Saturday, July 26 on the campus of the University of Missouri in Columbia.
The 2014 MICF once again will present a series of public concerts featuring music from contemporary composers, as well as workshops, master classes and other events. As in years past, Saturday night’s grand finale at the Missouri Theatre will present the world premieres of new works from each of the festival’s eight resident composers. The acclaimed new music group Alarm Will Sound, conducted by artistic director Alan Pierson, will serve as resident ensemble.
Beat Furrer is a Swiss native who studied music in his home country and in Vienna before co-founding one of Europe’s leading contemporary music ensembles, Klangforum Wien, which he still conducts. He has written a variety of critically acclaimed works, including operas and musical theater, and has received numerous awards and honors for his music in Europe.
Since 1991, Furrer has served as professor of composition at the Graz University of Music and Dramatic Arts, and he has been guest professor in composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt since 2006. In 2004 Furrer was awarded the Music Prize of the City of Vienna, and in 2005 became a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin.
Nico Muhly was born in Vermont and earned a master’s in composition at Juilliard studying with Christopher Rouse and John Corigliano. He also worked for Philip Glass as a MIDI programmer and editor for six years.
Muhly has composed a wide scope of work for ensembles, soloists and organizations including the American Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony, countertenor Iestyn Davies, violinist Hilary Hahn, choreographer Benjamin Millepied, New York City Ballet, New York Philharmonic, Paris Opéra Ballet, soprano Jessica Rivera, and designer/illustrator Maira Kalman.
With the 2014 guest composers confirmed, eight resident composers now will be selected for the Festival through a portfolio application process to create a new work for Alarm Will Sound. During the Festival, they’ll get composition lessons from Furrer and Muhly and take part in rehearsals with Alarm Will Sound. Each composer also will receive a copy of a professional live recording of their work.
The application process for resident composers begins September 26, 2013, and the deadline for submitting an application is Friday, November 15, 2013. For more information on applying to become a resident composer for the Mizzou International Composers Festival, please visit http://composersfestival.missouri.edu/application.html.
A complete schedule of events, times, dates and venues for the 2014 Mizzou International Composers Festival will be made available at a later date. For more information, please visit http://composersfestival.missouri.edu/.