Clockwise from top: Alarm Will Sound, Khemia Ensemble, Mizzou New Music Ensemble
Responding to the restrictions on live events imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mizzou International Composers Festival is going online for 2020.
The 11th annual edition of the MICF is set for Monday, July 27 through Saturday, August 1, with events streamed online from the Facebook pages of the Mizzou New Music Initiative and resident ensembles Alarm Will Sound and Khemia Ensemble, and from the YouTube channels of the University of Missouri School of Music, Alarm Will Sound, and Khemia Ensemble.
At 9:00 p.m. CDT on Friday, July 31, the MICF will present “Under Twilight,” a multimedia event curated by Mizzou professor Carolina Heredia that will take place both online and for an in-person, “drive-in” audience.
For the “drive-in” audience in the parking lot of the Sinquefield Music Center on the Mizzou campus, videos will be projected on an array of special outdoor 3D screens, while accompanying music is simulcast on radio station KMUC (90.5 FM). At the same time, the online audience will be able to see the program via Facebook and YouTube.
“Under Twilight” will include music and video by Maria Chavez and Flying Lotus, with soundtracks recorded by the composers; and a work by Joel Thompson, with music recorded by Sphinx Symphony Orchestra and the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Choir, conducted by Eugene Rogers.
The evening also will include pieces by former MICF distinguished guest composer Donnacha Dennehy and former resident composer Charlie Piper, as recorded by Alarm Will Sound; a work by Melissa Dunphy, recorded by Khemia Ensemble; and compositions from Carolina Heredia and Mizzou senior Ben Dawson, recorded by the composers and Mizzou students.
Then at 8:00 p.m. CDT Saturday, August 1, the festival’s finale will feature members of Alarm Will Sound, Khemia Ensemble, and the Mizzou New Music Ensemble performing a concert program including works by famed composers Meredith Monk and Pauline Oliveros, plus new music from Mizzou student Daniel Fitzpatrick and 2020 master’s graduate Niko Schroeder.
Alarm Will Sound will perform Monk’s “Anthem,” which also is the first work in their new series VIDEO CHAT VARIATIONS, showcasing remotely performed new works that respond to the quirks of video chat platforms.
Also on Saturday, the Mizzou New Music Ensemble will present Fitzpatrick’s “Ancient Echoes,” a concertino for banjo and ensemble that features the composer as banjo soloist; and the Khemia Ensemble, led by MU faculty composer Carolina Heredia, will present the world premiere of Schroeder’s “Moves” for ensemble and video.
The final piece on the program will feature members of all three groups coming together to perform Oliveros’ “Buffalo Jam,” which is scored with text instructions for any number and instrumentation of performers. The musicians, who were dispersed across the country, rehearsed and recorded the performance using the Jamulus platform, which enables transmission of audio with virtually no latency.
Along with the performances, Saturday’s event also will include interviews with the composers and a post-concert discussion open to audience members. The discussion will be led by Mizzou professor and MNMI and MICF artistic director Stefan Freund, Alarm Will Sound artistic director and conductor Alan Pierson, and Mizzou professor and Khemia Ensemble executive director Carolina Heredia.
Both Friday and Saturday night’s events are free and open to the public, but audience members are asked to register in advance using Eventbrite. To register for Friday’s event, either to view the event online or to “drive in” in person, go to https://micf2020undertwilight.eventbrite.com.To register for Saturday, go to https://micf2020finaleconcert.eventbrite.com.
In addition to the two weekend events, the festival also will include public online presentations from the eight resident composers and two distinguished guest composers who had been announced previously as participants in the 2020 MICF. All of the composer presentations will be available for public viewing online via the Mizzou New Music Initiative Facebook page.
Resident composers Pascal Le Boeuf, DM R (Diana M. Rodriguez), Niko Schroeder, and Celka Ojakangas will make individual presentations on their music starting at 6:00 p.m. CDT Monday, July 27, with Felipe Tovar-Henao, Shuying Li, Andrew Tholl, and Yu Kuwabara presenting at 6:00 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, July 28.
Distinguished guest composers David T. Little and Chen Yi will be the final presenters, starting at 6:00 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, July 29.
A complete schedule of events, times and dates for the 2020 Mizzou International Composers Festival will be available on the MICF website at https://composersfestival.missouri.edu/.