The Living World at the St. Louis Zoo

In the latest in an ongoing series of concerts featuring newly commissioned, site-specific works, the Mizzou New Music Ensemble will perform at 2:00 p.m. Friday, May 8 in The Living World at the St. Louis Zoo. The concert is free and open to the public.

The program will include three new compositions from University of Missouri students inspired by the Zoo and commissioned specifically for the occasion by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation.

“Predators” is by Kaylene Cypret, a graduate student working on a master’s in composition and orchestral conducting, and “evokes the spirit of birds of prey by imitating moments of hunting, flight, communication and curiosity.”

“Colors of Nature,” composed by Grant Bradshaw, a senior studying composition and viola, develops musical representations of the hues of various types of plant life found on the Zoo grounds, and then combines them into new sonic colors.

“Rhapsody in Zoo,” by sophomore composition major Erin Hoerchler, starts with rock beats and jazz harmonies and develops a theme through several reprises to showcase the individual musicians in turn, as well as the entire group.

The concert will be the latest in a series that began in 2010 and has included performances of new works written by Mizzou students specifically for the Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis, Missouri Botanical Garden, Sheldon Concert Hall, Forest Park Forever, and the World Chess Hall of Fame.

Mizzou New Music Ensemble

As an opening number, the Ensemble also will play “Djole” by Jeremiah Rittel, the group’s clarinetist. Based on a rhythm from Sierra Leone, the work re-imagines music originally played by indigenous drummers and combines it with new material for an ensemble of Western “classical” instruments.

The seven-member Mizzou New Music Ensemble 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 2014-15 season are Taylor Burkhardt, piano; Rachel Czech, cello; Jose Martínez, percussion; Jeremiah Rittel, clarinets; Erin Spencer, flute; Britney Stutz, violin; and Korin Wahl, viola.