New Muse Piano Duo
Tickets for the 2015 Mizzou International Composers Festival (MICF) will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. CDT next Monday, June 8.
Heralded as one of the premier contemporary music events in the Midwest, the MICF has been called “a vibrant inferno of creative energy” by the internationally syndicated radio program “Relevant Tones,” and praised for offering “kinetic excitement” by the hometown Columbia Daily Tribune.
DRAX
The 2015 MICF will take place from Monday, July 20 through Saturday, July 25 in Columbia. The grand finale of the week will feature the world premieres of eight new works written by the festival’s resident composers and performed by Alarm Will Sound, who return for their sixth year as resident ensemble.
That concert will take place at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, July 25 at the Missouri Theatre, 203 S. Ninth St. in downtown Columbia.
In addition to their grand finale performance, Alarm Will Sound also will play music from their recent repertoire in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 23 at the Missouri Theatre.
Alarm Will Sound
This year’s “Mizzou New Music” concert at 7:30 p.m., Friday, July 24 at the Missouri Theatre will feature performances by the Mizzou New Music Ensemble and guest artists New Muse Piano Duo, with pianists Jonathan Kuuskoski and Paola Savvidou, and DRAX, with percussionist Megan Arns and saxophonist Leo Saguiguit.
They will showcase music from MU faculty and student composers, as well as works by this year’s MICF guest composers, Hans Abrahamsen and Andrew Norman.
Festival passes good for admission to all three concerts are on sale for $80 for the VIP package, which includes a champagne and hors d’oeuvres reception with Alarm Will Sound members; $40 for an adult general admission pass; and $20 for a student general admission pass.
Single tickets are priced at $18 for adults, $10 for students, and are all general admission. Tickets can be charged by phone using Visa, MasterCard or Discover by calling 1-573-882-3781. To buy tickets online, or to see a complete listing of Mizzou International Composers Festival events, visit http://composersfestival.missouri.edu/.
(Missouri sales tax of 7.975% already is included in the price of each ticket. An additional fee of $2.00 per ticket will be charged for online purchases. For these fees, a three-concert festival pass is considered one ticket.)
In addition to these three concerts, the MICF also will feature several free events, including open rehearsals and presentations by the participating composers. A complete schedule of those events will be released at a later date.
The eight resident composers were selected from more than 230 applicants from the USA and overseas to participate in the festival and create a new work for Alarm Will Sound. They are:
* Thomas Dougherty, Houston, TX
* Emily Koh, Waltham, MA
* Andrew McManus, Chicago, IL
* Justin Pounds, Columbia, MO
* Alessandro Ratoci, Lausanne, Switzerland
* Christopher Stark, St. Louis, MO
* Anthony Vine, Brooklyn, NY
* Conrad Winslow, Brooklyn, NY
During the festival, the resident composers will receive composition lessons from guest composers Hans Abrahamsen, a Danish composer whose spare yet lyrical works reflect his involvement in the “New Simplicity” movement of the 1960s; and Andrew Norman, a Los Angeles-based composer and teacher at the USC Thornton School of Music.
The resident composers also will take part in rehearsals with Alarm Will Sound; give presentations on their music; and receive a premiere performance and professional live recording of their work.