Cellist T.J. Borden coming to Mizzou for residency, concert

Cellist and composer T. J. Borden will visit Mizzou next month for a residency and concert.

Borden (pictured) will be in Columbia on Tuesday, April 9 and Wednesday, April 10. While on campus, he’ll make a presentation to Mizzou composition students and give private lessons to selected cello students.

He’ll wrap up his visit with a concert at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday night at Whitmore Recital Hall, performing a work by Mizzou New Music Initative post-doctoral fellow Yoshi Onishi, plus music by composers Zeynap Toraman and Carolyn Chen and the world premiere of “Soften the World,” a new piece for cello, percussion, and electronics by Daniel Meyer-O’Keeffe.

A critically acclaimed performer of contemporary music, Borden currently is working towards his DMA at UC San Diego. He is a member of Mivos Quartet, a string quartet specializing in new music, and of the [Switch~ Ensemble], a group dedicated to the performance of works that incorporate multimedia into live performance (and that also includes Mizzou percussion professor Megan Arns among its members.)  He previously earned his BM degree at Ithaca College and his MM at the University at Buffalo,

As a cellist, Borden has worked with established composers including Brian Ferneyhough, La Monte Young, Alvin Lucier, Phillippe Leroux, and Steven Mackey, as well as with younger composers such as Wojtek Blecharz, Zane Merritt, Ben Isaacs, Lena Nietfeld, and Matt Sargent.

He has performed with ensembles and musicians including the JACK Quartet, the Theater of Eternal Music Brass and String Band, the Slee Sinfonietta, Ensemble Offspring, Tony Conrad, Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky, and Steve McCaffery.  Borden’s festival appearances include performances at the Soundways New Music Festival in St. Petersburg, June in Buffalo, the New Media Art and Sound Summit, the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival,  and more.

As a composer, Borden has been commissioned by organizations and performers such as Cleveland Institute of Art, Hochstein Alumni Orchestra, and hammered dulcimer virtuoso Mitzie Collins. You can hear T.J. Borden’s music on his website and on his Bandcamp page.