Mizzou International Composers Festival

Jan. 21, 2020

Mizzou International Composers Festival announces resident composers for 2020

The Mizzou New Music Initiative (MNMI) has selected eight resident composers to participate in the 2020 Mizzou International Composers Festival (MICF). Presented by MNMI and the University of Missouri School of Music from Monday, July 27 through Saturday, August 1 in Columbia, the eleventh annual MICF (http://composersfestival.missouri.edu/) will feature world premieres of new works written by each of the selected composers. Listed with their current places of residence, they are: * Yu Kuwabara – Tokyo, Japan * Pascal Le Boeuf – New York, NY * Shuying Li – Boston, MA * Celka…

Nov. 19, 2019

2020 Mizzou International Composers Festival gets
record number of resident composer submissions

A total of 346 composers from around the world have applied for the eight resident composer spots at the 2020 Mizzou International Composers Festival, a new record for the MICF. Submissions were received from 24 different countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The 2020 MICF will be held Monday, July 27 through Saturday, August 1 on the University of Missouri campus and at the Missouri Theatre in Columbia, and will feature…

Sep. 17, 2019

Mizzou International Composers Festival set for July 27 – August 1, 2020; applications for resident composers now open

The Mizzou New Music Initiative is accepting applications for resident composers to take part in the 11th annual Mizzou International Composers Festival (MICF), which will take place starting Monday, July 27 through Saturday, August 1, 2020 on the campus of the University of Missouri in Columbia. Chen Yi and David T. Little (pictured) will serve as the festival’s two distinguished guest composers for 2020, teaching and consulting with the resident composers and ensembles. Little also will write a new commissioned work specifically for the festival. The week-long MICF features concerts of music from contemporary composers, along with…

July 29, 2019

A look back at the 2019 Mizzou International Composers Festival

July 21, 2019

Composers Festival spotlight: Donnacha Dennehy

Donnacha Dennehy returns to the Mizzou International Composers Festival in 2019 as a distinguished guest composer, having previously served in the same capacity in 2012, and thereby making MICF history by becoming the only composer to play that role twice. Considered one of Ireland’s top living composers, Dennehy (pictured) is a founder of the new music group Crash Ensemble and an associate professor of music at Princeton University. His music has been featured at major festivals and venues around the world, including the Edinburgh International Festival; Carnegie Hall; the Tanglewood Festival; the Kennedy Center; The Barbican, Wigmore…

July 21, 2019

2019 MICF featured in Columbia Daily Tribune

On the Sunday just before the start of this year’s Mizzou International Composers Festival, the Columbia Daily Tribune published four articles by features editor Aarik Danielsen telling readers about the fest. You can read them all at the Tribune’s website by clicking on the links below: * Meet this year’s composers * Come Together: MU professors lead Khemia Ensemble to musical chemistry * Eyes and ears open: Composer converts moments of awareness into a career, about resident composer Nicole Murphy * Hear here: Composer tunes her work to a world of sound, about resident composer…

July 20, 2019

Composers Festival spotlight: Charles Halka

Resident composer Charles Halka comes to the 2019 Mizzou International Composers Festival having already done a good deal of world traveling in his composing and teaching career. Originally from Tulsa, OK, Halka (pictured) currently is an assistant professor of composition and theory at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. He earned a doctor of musical arts degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston, TX, and holds degrees in both piano and composition from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD. Overseas, he also has studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory…

July 19, 2019

Composers Festival spotlight: Amy Beth Kirsten

Amy Beth Kirsten occupies a unique place in Mizzou International Composers Festival history, returning in 2019 as a distinguished guest composer after having been one of the eight resident composers at the very first MICF (then called the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival) in 2010. Kirsten is the only composer to take part in the festival in both capacities, and to celebrate her return, the 2019 MICF will feature the world premiere of excerpts from a major new composition of hers. Selected parts of “Jacob in Chains,” an evening-length, music-driven theatrical work commissioned by Alarm Will Sound and…