2021 MICF performances by Alarm Will Sound: “Nested Time” by Yu Kuwabara and “Rainbow Diamond” by Paul Mortilla

The 2022 Mizzou International Composers Festival is scheduled from July 25th – 30th in Columbia,Missouri. Once again, Alarm Will Sound will perform world premieres of works by the eight Resident Composers chosen for this year’s MICF. AWS recently released recordings by two 2021 MICF Resident Composers: “Nested Time” by Yu Kuwabara, and “Rainbow Diamond” by Paul Mortilla.

Alarm Will Sound in concert at the Missouri Theater

Here’s how Kuwabara describes his compositional approach to “Nested Time.”

“I have always been trying to find an answer which intermediates in-between some things or some contexts; sometimes in-between the past and the present, in-between Japan and the rest of the world, or in-between language, sound, and music. Besides, the decades of my research and collaborations on traditional Japanese arts and music brought me a great question: what time and space mean for me. Therefore, over the last years, I mainly focus on investigating how to create form or time in my personal way. Nested time is a specific time field that I have defined. Through repeated ritardandi—slowing down from a constant tempo to twice the tempo—time is structured in a nested manner.”

Here’s a link to the AWS performance of “Nested Time” at the 2021 MICF:

Paul Mortilla provides background on his 2021 composition,” Rainbow Diamond.”

“The title “Rainbow Diamond” really encompasses extended just intonation, in that we can experience the full color spectrum of pitches in between the black and white keys on the piano, as well as the nature of the lattice structures the pitches form, identical to the indestructible, crystalline lattice nature of carbon atoms in diamonds. Both us and the diamond are organic, in that we are both carbon-based. My hope for this piece is a journey through both the micro and macrocosm, starting with earth, then moving into higher and higher spheres ’til completely cutting all ties with all conceptual elaborations and (fingers crossed) achieving equipoise in the emperium.”

Here’s a link to AWS performing the full work on YouTube:

This year you can hear AWS in-person when the MICF returns to free live performances for the first time since 2019! For those unable to attend in person, all concerts will stream live on:

Here’s a link to the complete 2022 MICF Schedule.