July 17, 2024

MICF Resident Composer Spotlight: Benjamin Scheuer

Benjamin Scheuer’s music is all about sensuality and humor. Both his staged and concert pieces contain theatrical elements and often evoke an atmosphere of darkly colored playfulness. In his works, found objects from daily life are frequently being presented onstage, either live or sampled. Scheuer doesn't consider himself to be a composer of electronic music,…

July 12, 2024

MICF Resident Composer Spotlight: Liu Yingting

Liu Yingting, a composer from Hunan, China, studied at the China Conservatory of Music as an undergraduate and achieved top honors upon admission to the Central Conservatory of Music for her master's degree. Her creative journey is centered around exploring the harmonious blend of Chinese Taoism and Jesa culture with contemporary music, and her works are…

July 12, 2024

MICF Resident Composer Spotlight: Mahbod Shirvani

Mahbod Shirvani is an Iranian electroacoustic composer and tar player based in the United States. He earned his bachelor's degree in Persian music performance, studying under Darioush Talaei, Siamak Aghaei, Hossein Alizadeh, and Azin Movahed at the University of Tehran. Mahbod Shirvani Shirvani has participated in international master classes and lessons with renowned composers such…

July 12, 2024

MICF Resident Composer Spotlight: ess whiteley

ess whiteley is a San Diego-based composer, multimedia artist, and performer working primarily with electronics and intermedia. They are interested in cyborg consciousness, computer hallucinations, haunted technologies, ecology, and more-than-human worlds in the context of virtually entangled, post-internet life and the Chthulucene. whiteley has had works performed at the MATA Festival (NYC), Int-Act Festival (Bangkok, Thailand),…

July 12, 2024

MICF Resident Composer Spotlight: Lukáš Janata

Lukáš Janata is a Czech San Francisco-based artist, composer, educator, performer, and organizer whose work asks an important question: how can creativity inspire empathy? His recent endeavors include board directorship at the Resonance Project, a nonprofit focusing on music as a conflict transformation through neuroscience. He co-organized a San Francisco Ukraine-benefit, Concert of Compassion, uniting…

June 28, 2024

Mizzou International Composers Festival Spotlight: Distinguished Guest Composer Mary Kouyoumdjian

The Mizzou New Music Initiative is pleased to welcome Pulitzer Prize finalist Mary Kouyoumdjian as one of two Distinguished Guest Composers for the 2024 Mizzou International Composers Festival (MICF). The Festival, which takes place from Monday, July 22 through Saturday, July 27 on the campus of the University of Missouri and at select Columbia locations,…

June 28, 2024

Mizzou International Composers Festival Spotlight: Distinguished Guest Composer George Lewis

The Mizzou New Music Initiative is pleased to welcome George Lewis as one of two Distinguished Guest Composers for the 2024 Mizzou International Composers Festival (MICF). The Festival, which takes place from Monday, July 22 through Saturday, July 27 on the campus of the University of Missouri and at select Columbia locations, will also welcome…

June 21, 2024

MIZZOU NEW MUSIC INITIATIVE READIES 2024 MIZZOU INTERNATIONAL COMPOSERS FESTIVAL

The 2024 edition of the Mizzou International Composers Festival is set to take place from July 22-27 at the University of Missouri and select Columbia locations. Presented by the Mizzou New Music Initiative, the festival includes several public concerts, world premiere performances, appearances by Distinguished Guest Composers George Lewis and Mary Kouyoumdjian, and a concert…