The new music group Khemia Ensemble will perform new works by five student composers in an online concert as part of a virtual residency this month at Mizzou.
The concert of student works will be one of two performances during the residency, which also will include a presentation to the School of Music’s composition seminar as well as individual private lessons and master classes for instrumental students.
In their first performance at 7:00 p.m. CDT on Monday, March 22, Khemia Ensemble will present a program of works for solo instruments, featuring music by composers Nicole Chamberlain, Melissa Dunphy, Reena Esmail, Stacy Garrop, Jennifer Jolley, Emma O’Halloran, Tanner Porter, and Juri Seo.
Then at 7:30 p.m CDT, Tuesday, March 23, the ensemble will premiere all new works by Mizzou student composers Isabelle Borchardt, Holden Franklin, Emily Shaw, Jack Snelling, and Sam Whitty. Both concerts will be available to view on the University of Missouri School of Music’s YouTube channel, the Mizzou New Music Facebook page, and the Facebook page and YouTube channel of Khemia Ensemble.
Khemia Ensemble (pictured) is led by co-artistic directors Er-Gene Kahng, violinist, and Amy Petrongelli, soprano, and includes Mizzou assistant professor Eli Lara on cello, as well as Thiago Ancelmo, clarinet; Annie Jeng, piano; Shane Jones, percussion; Chelsea Tinsler Jones, percussion; and Mary Matthews, flute.
As a group, they work to “actively promote both established and emerging composers through concerts, commissions, and collaborative mentorships with the next generation of composers and performers through workshops and residencies.”
Khemia Ensemble in 2019 and 2020 performed as part of the Mizzou International Composers Festival and also served as the resident ensemble for Mizzou’s Summer Composition Institute. They have been featured in venues and festivals such as National Sawdust, Strange Beautiful Music in Detroit, the third annual New Music Gathering, Latin IS America at Michigan State University, and the Biennial New Music Festival at the National University of Cordoba.
They also have had residencies at University of Michigan, Tufts University, Michigan State University, the National University of Bogota, and the National University of Cordoba, as well as two consecutive years at Avaloch Farms.