The Mizzou New Music Ensemble will present their first concert of 2014 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, March 9 in Whitmore Recital Hall, 135 Fine Arts Building on the University of Missouri campus. Admission is free for Mizzou students, $5 suggested donation for the general public.
The program will include new works from four current Mizzou composition students plus one by the late Frederick Fox, former professor of composition at Indiana University.
Described as “a dark sonic fantasy” employing innovative instrumental techniques and creative percussion writing, “Devils Tramping Ground,” was written in 1991 by Fox, a jazz-influenced composer and teacher who in the mid-1970s founded the Indiana University New Music Ensemble.
The other four works on the program will be premiere performances. “Lament for a Bird,” was written this year by Kay Cypret, a first year master’s student studying composition at Mizzou. It tells the story of the life and tragic death of a bird featuring lyric chorales and percussion that imitates gunshots.
“Inception, Conception, Create,” written in 2013 by Luke Henderson, was inspired by Oliver Sacks’ book “Musicophilia,” and portrays the process of composition from start to finish. Henderson is a freshman at Mizzou, studying for degrees in both music education and composition.
“Adventures in Anarchy,” a 2013 work by freshman composition major Erin Hoerchler, offers “a quick, wild ride featuring syncopated rhythms and explosive dynamics.”
Travis Herd’s “Meditation,” also composed in 2013, uses repetition and pantonality to create an ethereal and relaxed mood, interrupted by moments of dissonance. Herd is a junior music education major in his first year of composition studies.
The seven-member Mizzou New Music Ensemble (pictured) is made up of University of Missouri graduate students under the direction of Stefan Freund, a cellist, composer and associate professor.
The Ensemble’s members for the 2013-14 season are Rachel Czech, cello; Hsu Shun Jung, piano; Mary Jamerson, flute; Katherine Jones, violin; Ian McClaflin, percussion; Shawn Nemati-Baghestani, oboe; and Jeremiah Rittel, clarinets. They serve as the repertory group for the Mizzou New Music Initiative, working with faculty, students and visiting composers, and give public performances on campus and in the community.