Audio from the 2016 COMP Festival will stream live online on Saturday, April 16
From classical, jazz, and blues to folk, rock, and hip-hop, Missouri has a rich and varied musical history. The Show-Me State over the years has produced a long list of musical luminaries, from Scott Joplin, Virgil Thomson, and Burt Bacharach to Clark Terry, Chuck Berry, and Sheryl Crow, but what does the future hold?
The answer could be in Columbia, where Mizzou’s Creating Original Music Project (COMP) will present performances of award-winning original works by young Missouri composers in grades K-12 at the 11th annual COMP Festival, held from 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Saturday, April 16 in the Fine Arts Building on the campus of the University of Missouri.
Admission is free and open to the public. The junior division concert, featuring works from elementary and middle school winners, begins at 10:30 a.m., with the senior division concert of music by high school winners following at 2:30 p.m..
The festival also will be streamed live online at https://music.missouri.edu/concert-audio-streaming, with the audio stream going live 10 minutes before the start of each concert.
COMP was founded in 2005 to encourage K-12 students in Missouri to write original musical works and to provide performance opportunities for those works. It is a joint venture of the university’s Mizzou New Music Initiative and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation, which provides an annual gift of $80,000 to sponsor the competition.
Every year, in addition to having their music performed at the COMP Festival, the winning composers and their schools receive cash prizes, and high school winners also receive a scholarship to attend Mizzou’s high school summer music composition camp.
“The Mizzou New Music Initiative is all about helping young composers grow and develop, from elementary school all the way through post-graduate studies,” said Jeanne Sinquefield of the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. “The Creating Original Music Project competition and summer camp are the first steps in that process, and we’re delighted that over the last 11 years, we’ve been able to provide opportunities and encouragement for hundreds of Missouri’s youngest composers through those programs.”
The 2016 Creating Original Music Project (COMP) competition categories and winners are:
Elementary School – Song with Words
1) Miles Cole & Drew Hauser of Bristol Elementary School, Webster Groves, for “Number One.” Sponsor: Sara Wichard.
2) Kadyn Bilberry of Reeds Spring Elementary School, Reeds Spring, for “Run Lanie Run.” Sponsor: Sue Gillen.
3) Jenna Yaw of Reeds Spring Elementary School, Reeds Spring, for “I’m Lost.” Sponsor: Sue Gillen.
Elementary School – Instrumental
1) Judah Robbins Bernal of Russell Boulevard Elementary School, Columbia, for “Sounds of Life.” Music Teacher: Paola Savvidou. Sponsor: Jared Smith.
2) Yueheng Wang of Grant Elementary School, Columbia, for “Miserable Me.” Music Teacher: Mabel Kinder. Sponsor: Pam Sisson.
3) Alexis Rysanek of Rogers Elementary School, St. Louis, for “I Went to the City.” Sponsor: Donna Buehne.
Middle School – Fine Art
1) Olivia Bennett, a home-schooled student from Nixa, for “Wistful Fog.” Sponsor: Dan Bennett.
2) HyunJun Yoo of West Middle School, Columbia, for “I.Clown.” Sponsor: Julie Swope.
3) Brandon Kim of Jefferson Middle School, Columbia, for “Time Travel.” Music Teacher: Erin Hoerchler. Sponsor: Jaime Canepa.
Middle School – Popular
1) Thomas Trollope of Wright City Middle School, Wright City, for “Giants.” Sponsor: Todd Oberlin.
2) Ella Leible of Chaffee Elementary School, Chaffee, for “Our Melody.” Sponsor: Carrie Cane.
3) Finnegan Stewart of Wildwood Middle School, Wildwood, for “You Will Never Change Me.” Sponsor: Julia Lega.
High School – Fine Art
1) Julia Riew of John Burroughs School, St. Louis, for “The Executioner’s Dream.” Sponsor: Robert Carter.
2) Mary Park of David H. Hickman High School, Columbia, for “Dream of Life.” Sponsor: Megan Maddeleno.
3) Amanda Bradshaw, a home-schooled student from Columbia, for “a very unusual Summer afternoon.” Music Teacher: Grant Bradshaw. Sponsor: Mike Bradshaw.
High School – Popular
1) Menea Kefalov of Ladue Horton Watkins High School, St. Louis, for “I Can’t Take It.” Sponsor: Twinda Murry.
2) Audrey McCulley of Arcadian Academy of Music, Ironton, for “Remember.” Sponsor: Emily Parker.
3) Sarah Meadows of David H. Hickman High School, Columbia, for “Tomorrow’s Gonna Change.” Sponsor: Robin Steinhaus.
High School – Jazz
1) Nick Larimore of Parkway Central High School, Chesterfield, for “I Need the Eggs.” Sponsor: Doug Hoover.
2) Jack Snelling of Webster Groves High School, Webster Groves, for “Tribute to San Calcetín.” Sponsor: Kevin Cole.
3) Samuel Luetkemeyer of Calvary Lutheran High School, Jefferson City, for “Tickets, Please.” Sponsor: Melissa Ahlers.
Each student who enters the competition must have the signature and sponsorship of his or her school’s music teacher. Community agencies, churches, after-school programs, private teachers, and other musical mentors also may sponsor their young musicians in partnership with the student’s school music teacher.