Resident Composer Spotlight: Felipe Tovar-Henao

Felipe Tovar-Henao is one of eight Resident Composers selected for the 2022 Mizzou International Composers Festival from a total of 532 applicants from 49 countries.

Felipe Tovar-Henao

Characterized by a strong interest in exploring sound perception, memory, and recognition, the music of Colombian composer Felipe Tovar-Henao has been consistently awarded and performed throughout his emerging professional career. His creative work is deeply rooted in aesthetic experiences with technology, philosophy, and cinema, incorporating both acoustic and electroacoustic media.

Tovar-Henao was selected as a finalist for the 2019 SEAMUS/ASCAP Award and received the 2018 SCI/ASCAP Student Commission Award, as well as the 2018 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award.

Tovar-Henao’s music has been performed by artists and ensembles such as Alarm Will Sound, Grossman Ensemble, Quatuor Diotima, Sound Icon, IU New Music Ensemble, AURA Contemporary Ensemble, Hear no Evil, Sociedad de Música de Cámara de Bogotá, Ensamble Periscopio, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, and Orquesta Sinfónica EAFIT, among others. He has received commissions and grants from several institutions including SCI/ASCAP, the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition (CCCC), Mizzou New Music Initiative, FilarMed, Indiana University, Colombian Ministry of Culture, Alcaldía de Medellín, and Universidad EAFIT.

Tovar-Henao has held teaching positions as Associate Instructor and Coordinator of the IU JSoM Composition Department (2017-’20), as well as Adjunct Professor in Music Theory and Composition at Universidad EAFIT (2020-’21) in Medellín, Colombia. He is currently the 2021/22 CCCC Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Chicago.

For the MICF, he has written a new work, Enjambres (2022), which will have its world premiere July 30 at 7:30 pm at the Missouri Theater. The concert will feature Alarm Will Sound playing world premiere performances by all eight Resident Composers.

You can hear samples of Tovar-Henao’s music on his website.