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The Mizzou New Music Ensemble has completed a two-week South American tour that featured four public concert performances of eight local composers’ works as well as readings of local students’ works and conducting/composition classes in Lima, Peru, and Medellín and Bogotá, Colombia.
This was the MNME’s second South American tour; the first was held in 2023.
The seven-piece ensemble, led by conductor and director Dr. Stefan Freund, performed on May 15 at Lima’s Universidad Nacional de Música and on May 16 at Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, with readings of Lima students’ works on May 17. In Medellín, MNME read students’ works and performed at EAFIT on May 20. Dr. Stefan Freund and Dr. Yoshiaki Onishi held conducting and composition classes, respectively, at Universidad de Antioquia on May 21. In Bogotá, student readings took place at Universidad Javierana on May 22-23, with a concert on May 23.
“This tour gave the MNME the opportunity to share our music with audiences who rarely have the opportunity to experience new music,” said Dr. Freund. “We were able to work with faculty composers on their music and also read student works. The student readings were particularly valuable since several of the students had few experiences working with live performers.”
The tour also allowed MNME to build relationships with faculty and student composers, growing the reputation of the Mizzou School of Music and continuing its recruiting pipeline to South America that has proven to be very fruitful.
“The Mizzou New Music Initiative draws students and composers from around the world to participate in our programs, and this tour really helped us introduce our style of new music composition and performance to our counterparts in South America and build bridges for future interactions on both continents,” Dr. Freund added.
The touring ensemble included Kyrsten Wehner, flute; Dr. Yoshiaki Onishi, clarinet; Alexandre Negrao, violin; Dean Wibe, cello; Daniel Noonan, percussion; Medellín native Harry Gonzalez, piano, composer; and Ryan Kee, piano, and conductor Freund. The ensemble was accompanied on tour by former MNME managing director Dr. Andrea Luque Káram.
The repertoire for the concerts included works by Marco Alunno, Federico García De Castro, Gabriela Lena Frank, Harry Gonzalez, Victor Marquez-Barrios, Paola Márquez-Smith, Carolina Noguera, Joan Tower, and Nilo Velarde.
“Harry Gonzalez personifies the importance of the Mizzou New Music Initiative’s South American outreach,” Dr. Freund said. “He is one of our very successful student composers at Mizzou and comes to us from his home in Colombia. Being able to return to his hometown of Medellín and having one of his original compositions performed in front of his family, friends, and mentors by the ensemble was very special.”
“The opportunity to work with faculty composers on their music was very special for us,” Dr. Freund noted. “We had already rehearsed and performed several of the works in Columbia, so we were able to focus on high levels of musical interpretation during these coachings in order to realize the composers’ vision.”
While on tour, the group was able to schedule side trips to Machu Picchu, Guatapé, and Monseratte.
The MNME collaborates with MU’s faculty and student composers, performs frequently on and off campus, and works with some of the world’s leading composers and interpreters of new music.
The Mizzou New Music Initiative is a diverse array of programs that position the University of Missouri School of Music as a leading center for the composition and performance of new music. The initiative is supported by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation, led by Dr. Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield. Their vision is to create an incubator for the composition and performance of new music and to showcase Missouri as a center for the music of tomorrow.
To stay up to date with all MNMI announcements, follow them on Instagram and Facebook: @MizzouNewMusic