Clockwise from top left: Jiyoun Chung, Dan Viggers, Robyne Sieh & David McCaulley

The Mizzou New Music Initiative (MNMI) has announced the selection of four winners in the 2020 Missouri Composers Project (MOCOP) competition.

Now in its ninth year, MOCOP is a collaborative effort involving MNMI, the Columbia Civic Orchestra (CCO), the Columbia Chamber Choir, and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. Composers from all over Missouri are invited each year to submit orchestral and choral works for potential performance, with winners selected in two age categories, “open” and “high school.”

All four winners of the 2020 competition will receive a $500 honorarium from the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation, and the CCO and the Chamber Choir will perform their compositions in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 5 at the Center for Missouri Studies, 605 Elm St in Columbia. Admission to the concert is free and open to the public.

In the “open” categories, this year’s winning orchestral composition is “New Elegance” by Dan Viggers, and the winning choral work is “My Beautiful One, Come with Me” by Jiyoun Chung.

Viggers is a St. Louis based composer who has a bachelor’s degree in composition from Bradley University and a Ph.D. in music theory from Washington University. His compositions include classical works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, and vocalists; original works for musical theater; and electronic music released under the names Amadeus Vegas, Netizen, and Dotcom Davinci.

Jiyoun Chung is a pianist, composer and native of South Korea, where she received her degree in composition from Hanyang University. She moved to the USA in 2008, and since has earned master’s degrees in composition and piano performance from Illinois State University, and a doctor of musical arts in composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Her music has been performed by orchestras, chamber ensembles and soloists in concerts and at festivals in the United States, Asia and Europe.

The winning orchestral work in the “high school” category for 2020 is “’Till the End of Time” by David McCaulley. a junior at Carl Junction High School in Carl Junction, MO. His musical experiences include composing scores for the independent production company Light of Life Films, and creating a YouTube channel with videos analyzing music in popular films from “Star Wars” to “Batman” and more.

The winning choral work in the “high school” category is “Peace” by Robyne Sieh, a senior at Fort Zumwalt North High on O’Fallon, MO. She is a member of her school’s Panther Pride Marching Band, jazz band, and wind ensemble; takes private piano lessons, and participated in the Missouri Summer Composition Institute from 2017 to 2019. She also has been recognized as a Bach Scholar by the Bach Society of St. Louis; was a prize-winner in Mizzou’s 2018 Creating Original Music Project; and a finalist in the 2019 St. Louis Teen Talent Competition.

The Missouri Composers Project (MOCOP) is a collaborative effort by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation, the Mizzou New Music Initiative, the Columbia Civic Orchestra, and the Columbia Chamber Choir to bring attention to new large ensemble works written in the state of Missouri. By identifying composers and providing opportunities for the performance of their work, MOCOP intends to showcase emerging talent of Missouri and share it with the world.

The Columbia Civic Orchestra is a volunteer group located in Columbia, Missouri, dedicated to providing enjoyment for its members and audiences with the presentation and preservation of high-quality symphonic music.

The Columbia Chamber Choir in a subset of the Columbia Chorale, which works to promote choral music of the highest artistic quality and to stimulate a greater community understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of choral music by presenting programs appealing to a wide cross-section of Missouri residents and visitors.