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St. Louis Symphony Orchestra musicians will perform the world premiere of Fuse, a new work for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon written by Mizzou New Music Initiative student composer Henry Rusten as part of the SLSO’s Live at The Sheldon program on December 4, 2025, The program, themed “Reeds in Turn,” will be curated by oboist Xiomara Mass and bassoonist Julia Paine of the SLSO, who will be in the wind quintet performing the premiere.
“The title Fuse refers to two different aspects of the work,” Rusten said. “The word can refer to how certain melodic lines start with one instrument, then other instruments join in and ‘fuse’ together in a unison melodic line. Its can also refer to how high-energy sections are abruptly turned into slower, low-energy sections, like how an electrical fuse is used to shut down an electrical device to prevent damage when too much electricity is flowing through it. Fuse takes the listener on a journey ranging from slow, lush harmonies to fast, strident dissonances with many energy fluctuations.”
A junior undergraduate double majoring in music composition and statistics, Rusten’s compositions have been commissioned by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra chamber ensemble, the Mizzou New Music Ensemble, and the JACK Quartet. His honors include being a Sinquefield Prize finalist, winning the University of Missouri Composers Project, Orchestra High School Division (which included a performance by the Columbia Civic Orchestra), winning first place in the University of Missouri COMP Contest Jazz Category, and winning the Missouri Association for Jazz Education Band Composition Contest.
Now in its third year, SLSO’s Live at The Sheldon series features chamber music by rising composers at the University of Missouri, part of the orchestra’s long-running collaboration with the Mizzou New Music Initiative – a program of the university that supports emerging composers.
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.
Rusten was recently featured on the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s “SLSO Stories” blog. You can read the piece here.
Tickets for the December 4 concert are $48 – $59.50 for the general public and $13 including service charges. More information can be found here.
To stay up to date with all Mizzou New Music Initiative announcements, follow them on Instagram and Facebook: @MizzouNewMusic