The Missouri Music Teachers Association (MMTA) has selected Yoshiaki Onishi as their Commissioned Composer for 2021.

Onishi (pictured), a postdoctoral fellow with the Mizzou New Music Initiative, was chosen after submitting a portfolio of works anonymously to a panel of three judges. As the winner of the award, he will be commissioned to write a new work to be premiered in November 2021 at MMTA’s annual conference.

The winners of the Commissioned Composer competition in various states also are eligible to compete for the Music Teachers National Association’s “Distinguished Composer of Year” award, which includes a performance at MTNA’s national conference and a $5,000 cash prize.

Onishi is the third composer/educator from Mizzou to win the MMTA Commissioned Composer award in recent years, following former faculty member Bret Bohman, the 2019 winner, and associate professor Carolina Heredia, who won in 2018 when she was MNMI’s postdoctoral fellow.