If there were a prize for “longest distance traveled to take part in the Mizzou International Composers Festival,” resident composer Amanda Feery would be the winner for 2018, coming to Columbia all the way from Dublin, Ireland.

Originally from County Offaly in Ireland, Feery recently moved back to her home country after completing her PhD in composition here in the USA at Princeton University. She previously earned a B.A. in music and an M.Phil in music and media technologies from Trinity College Dublin.

For the MICF, Feery has composed a new work titled “This is the House of,” which will be performed by resident ensemble Alarm Will Sound along with new music from the fest’s other resident composers as part of the grand finale concert on Saturday, July 28 at the Missouri Theatre.

Working variously in acoustic, electronic, and improvised music, her past collaborations include Third Coast Percussion, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Choir Ireland, Crash Ensemble, Fidelio Trio, Ensemble Mise-en, Bearthoven, RTÉ Contempo Quartet, Dither Quartet, Dublin Guitar Quartet, Mivos String Quartet, Orkest de Ereprijs, Quince Vocal Ensemble, This is How we Fly, Lisa Moore, Michelle O’Rourke, and Paul Roe.

Feery’s previous fellowships and residencies include the Ostrava Days Festival in the Czech Republic, Soundscape Festival in Italy, Bang on a Can Summer Festival in the United States and the International Young Composers Meeting in the Netherlands. She was the winner of the West Cork Chamber Music Composer Award in 2009, and the Jerome Hynes Young Composers Award in 2013.

You can hear Feery discuss her new work for the Mizzou International Composers Festival in the interview she recently did with radio station KMUC for their weekly “Mizzou Music” program.

For more about her, check out her video interview from 2016 at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, in which she discusses her piece “The Very Air Tastes Different,” and her interview on Athena Media’s podcast special about Irish women composers, “Cross Currents,” also from 2016. You can listen to some samples of Amanda Feery’s music via the embedded players below.

Excerpt from “Stray Sods,” recorded March 25, 2016 at Mount Tremper Arts in Phoenicia, NY by Amanda Gookin (cello).

“On Shuffle,” recorded December 9, 2017 at the Mathewson Street Theater in Providence, RI by Verdant Vibes, featuring EmmaLee Holmes-Hicks (violin), Zan Berry (cello), Jacob Richman (bass), Alexander Dupuis (guitar), and Chuck Furlong (bass clarinet).