The Mizzou New Music Ensemble will present their final on-campus concert of the 2013-14 academic year at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, April 27 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 five Mizzou students, plus music from Mizzou professor W. Thomas McKenney and from Swiss composer Beat Furrer, who will be one of two guest composers at this summer’s Mizzou International Composers Festival.
Furrer’s “Aer,” written for clarinet, cello, and piano, is described as “an exploration of breathy sounds created through extended techniques on the instruments,” while McKenney’s “The Rising of the Moon” is based on the Irish ballad of the same name by John Keegan Casey and recounts the battle between the United Irishmen and the British Army during the Irish Rebellion of 1798.
“About the Others,” by graduate composition student José Martínez, was inspired by poet Octavio Paz’ “Sunstone” and incorporates lively percussion ostinatos surrounded by energetic rhythms in the instruments.
Completing the program will be four new works by Mizzou composition students that were commissioned for an upcoming Forest Park Forever member event in St. Louis: “Elysium” by Trey Makler; “Structural Symbiosis” by Matt Stiens; “A Leaf on the Wind” by Justin Pounds; and “Forest Park Rhapsody” by Benedetto Colagiovanni.
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, clarinet.
The Ensemble serves as the repertory group for the Mizzou New Music Initiative, an array of programs intended to position the University of Missouri School of Music as a leading center in the areas of composition and new music. As the repertory group for the Initiative, they work with faculty, students and visiting composers, and give public performances on campus and in the community.