The Mizzou New Music Initiative will honor longtime St. Louis music journalist and musician Dean Minderman at a memorial concert on Sunday, May 3rd at 8 p.m. at the Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis. The concert will feature the Mizzou New Music Ensemble performing three Sound of Art commissions written by Mizzou composition students in honor of Minderman, as well as two additional works, one by a current Mizzou student and another by a Mizzou alum. Support for the concert is provided by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. Tickets are $20 general admission and are in advance available through the Sheldon website, or at the box office before the concert.
Dean Minderman
Minderman passed away in September 2021. For the past 11 years, he was the voice of the Mizzou New Music Initiative (MNMI) blog and Twitter profile, working tirelessly to promote MNMI’s activities. A graduate of Mizzou’s journalism program (B.M. 1979), Minderman combined his love of writing with his musical talents.He wrote many articles for The Riverfront Times, NewMusicBox, and other publications over his decades-long career. He was also a staple of the jazz and blues scene in his native St. Louis, playing piano and keys in multiple bands.
Minderman’s most significant contribution to the city’s musical scene was St. Louis Jazz Notes, a blog he maintained for over 16 years that chronicled upcoming events and rising artists on both the jazz and new music scene in St. Louis and nationally. Proceeds from the Memorial Concert will be dedicated to carrying on Minderman’s blog through Jazz St. Louis.
Here is the program for the May 3rd concert:
- Provinciana (2022) Santiago Beis*
- Night Blossoms (2017) Ben Colagiovanni
- Romance of the Worms (2022) Emily Shaw*
- After Hours (2022) Robyne Sieh*
- City Swing (2019) Jack Snelling
* Written in honor of Dean Minderman
Members of the 2021-22 Mizzou New Music Ensemble, with Yoshiaki Onishi (third from front) and Stefan Freund (fifth from front)
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble is made up of University of Missouri graduate students. Members of the Ensemble are fully funded through research assistantships. Mizzou New Music Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow Yoshiaki Onishi is the Ensemble’s Director. The members of the 2021-22 Mizzou New Music Ensemble are: Valentina Arango Sánchez, flute; Andrew Wiele, clarinet; Johanny Veiga Barbosa, violin; Andy Lewis, violoncello; Jordan Nielsen, percussion; Stephen Landy, percussion; Eve Werger, piano and Daniel Fitzpatrick, piano.