Mizzou International Composers Festival

July 13, 2015

Composers Festival spotlight: DRAX

Formed in fall 2014, DRAX is the newest faculty ensemble-in-residence at the University of Missouri, and they’ll be making their Mizzou International Composers Festival debut as guest artists for the “Mizzou New Music” concert on Friday, July 24 at the Missouri Theatre. As the latest addition to the growing new music scene at Mizzou, the duo of percussionist Megan Arns and saxophonist Leo Saguiguit intends to explore the existing repertoire for saxophone and percussion duo as well as commission new works. They’ve already made their its international debut at the 2015 World Saxophone…

July 10, 2015

Composers Festival spotlight: Andrew Norman

Along with Hans Abrahamsen, the Mizzou New Music Initiative is pleased to welcome Andrew Norman as one of our two distinguished guest composers for the 2015 Mizzou International Composers Festival. Currently an assistant professor of composition at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, Norman (pictured) is a graduate of Yale and the University of Southern California. He is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the 2006 Rome Prize and the 2009 Berlin Prize, and in 2012 was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music for his string trio…

July 10, 2015

MICF on TV

Along with such familiar public TV fare as Charlie Rose and Great Performances, Missourians who tune into their local PBS affiliate over the next couple of weeks may see an ad for the Mizzou International Composers Festival. The :30 spot will run on KETC in St. Louis, KCPT in Kansas City, and KMOS in Jefferson City/Columbia, as well as on YouTube. The ad presents a quick-cut look at the MICF’s resident ensemble Alarm Will Sound in performance, underscored by “Fuse,” which was written for last year’s festival by Kansas Citian and 2014 resident composer Nicholas Omiccioli.

July 8, 2015

If you’re coming to Columbia

If you’re planning on coming to Columbia for the 2015 Mizzou International Composers Festival, you can get advance tickets online for all three concerts, which will be presented again this year at the Missouri Theatre: Thursday, July 23: Alarm Will Sound Friday, July 24: Mizzou New Music Saturday, July 25: Eight World Premieres Also, you may find these links useful for planning and/or during your visit: Visitors information Columbia Convention and Visitors Bureau University of Missouri Visitors Guide Columbia Regional Airport Vox Magazine’s guide…

July 7, 2015

Composers Festival spotlight: Hans Abrahamsen

All of us at the Mizzou New Music Initiative are pleased to welcome Hans Abrahamsen as one of our two distinguished guest composers for the 2015 Mizzou International Composers Festival. The winner of major honors including the Carl Nielsen Prize (1989) and the Wilhelm Hansen Prize (1998), Abrahamsen (pictured) since 1995 has taught composition and orchestration at The Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. As a distinguished guest composer for the MICF, he’ll work with the festival’s eight resident composers as a group and individually, and also will give a public presentation on his music.

June 12, 2015

Music from 2014 MICF now on SoundCloud

Now that tickets are on sale for the 2015 Mizzou International Composers Festival, here’s a chance to whet your musical appetite with some sounds from the 2014 MICF. These works were written by 2014 resident composers Holly Harrison, Texu Kim, and Michael Schachter (pictured, from left) especially for the Festival’s resident ensemble Alarm Will Sound, and received their world premiere performances at the 2014 festival. To play the track, just click on the embedded SoundCloud player. The 2015 MICF takes place July 20 – 25 in Columbia. To get your tickets to hear this year’s exciting…

June 2, 2015

Tickets for 2015 Mizzou International Composers Festival
go on sale Monday, June 8

New Muse Piano Duo Tickets for the 2015 Mizzou International Composers Festival (MICF) will go on sale at 10:00 a.m. CDT next Monday, June 8. Heralded as one of the premier contemporary music events in the Midwest, the MICF has been called “a vibrant inferno of creative energy” by the internationally syndicated radio program “Relevant Tones,” and praised for offering “kinetic excitement” by the hometown Columbia Daily Tribune. DRAX The 2015 MICF will take place from Monday, July 20 through Saturday, July 25 in Columbia. The grand finale of the week will feature the world premieres of…

Jan. 5, 2015