June 17, 2025
Mizzou New Music Ensemble Completes 12-Day South American Tour Featuring Concerts and Readings of Local Composers’ Works
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble has completed a two-week South American tour that featured four public concert performances of eight local composers’ works as well as readings of local students’ works and conducting/composition classes in Lima, Peru, and Medellín and Bogotá, Colombia. This was the MNME’s second South American tour; the first was held in 2023. The seven-piece ensemble, led by conductor and director Dr. Stefan Freund, performed on May 15 at Lima’s Universidad Nacional de Música and on May 16 at Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, with readings of Lima students’ works on…
May 27, 2025
Dr. Tiffany M. Skidmore joins MNMI as Managing Director
The Mizzou New Music Initiative is pleased to announce that Dr. Tiffany M. Skidmore will be joining our team as Managing Director. Dr. Skidmore is an American composer and performer based in Columbia, Missouri. She has held faculty positions at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, Virginia Tech, and the University at Buffalo (SUNY), where, from 2023-2024, she held the Birge Cary Chair in Music Composition. Most recently, she was a Visiting Professor at McGill University, in residence at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT). She is Co-Founder, Executive…
May 8, 2025
Mizzou New Music Ensemble to Perform Four Concerts with Residencies in South America May 15-24, 2025
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble will travel to South America May 15-24, 2025, for a tour of concert performances and residencies at four leading universities in Lima, Peru, and Medellín and Bogota, Colombia. Mizzou New Music Initiative Artistic Director Stefan Freund will lead each concert and residency, and Managing Director Andrea Luque Káram will assist on the tour, which will include eight musicians and composers. Each concert on the tour will feature performances of a work by a local composer associated with the host institution. At each location, the Mizzou composers…
May 5, 2025
Mizzou New Music Initiative to expand thanks to $4.6 million gift
A $4.6 million gift from Dr. Jeanne Sinquefield, Rex Sinquefield, and the Sinquefield CharitableFoundation will ensure University of Missouri students continue to redefine the sounds oftomorrow through the Mizzou New Music Initiative. The funding will expand opportunities for students and faculty, supercharging a program alreadyknown for fostering bold, original compositions and turning visionary ideas into reality. “My goal is to make Missouri a mecca for musical composition,” said Jeanne Sinquefield, amember of the UM Board of Curators and founder of the Mizzou New Music Initiative (MNMI). “The MNMI covers K-12, undergraduate,…
April 1, 2025
Students Gonzalez, Schlegel, and Wolfe premiere new works with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
New works by three University of Missouri School of Music students were given their world premiere on Wednesday, March 26, in a concert by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at the Touhill Performing Arts Center in St. Louis. SLSO Assistant Conductor Samuel Hollister led the performance. Harry Gonzalez, a master’s student from Medellin, Colombia; Atticus Schlegel, a senior from St. Louis; and JT Wolfe, a senior from St. Joseph, MO, were selected to participate in the program through a collaboration between the SLSO and the Mizzou New Music Initiative (MNMI). The pieces performed…
March 18, 2025
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra to Premiere Three New Works from Mizzou Student Composers at March 26 Concert at The Touhill
Three University of Missouri School of Music students will have their original compositions performed by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) at a special concert at the Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri in St. Louis on March 26, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. This concert will feature works by Harry Gonzalez, a master’s student from Medellin, Colombia; Atticus Schlegel, a senior from St. Louis; and JT Wolfe, a senior from St. Joseph, MO. They were selected through a collaboration between the SLSO and the Mizzou New Music Initiative (MNMI). The program is funded by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. The new…
March 17, 2025
Mizzou New Music Initiative announces winners in the 2025 Creating Original Music Project Competition
The Mizzou New Music Initiative has announced the winning composers in the 2025 Creating Original Music Project (COMP). Now in its 20th year, COMP is an annual statewide competition sponsored by the University of Missouri School of Music and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. COMP showcases new, original music from Missouri student composers and songwriters in grades K-12, offering positive recognition, prizes, performances, educational opportunities, and more. For the competition, students in grades K-5 submit compositions in two categories: Instrumental Music and Songs with Words. For grades 6-8, the categories are Acoustic, Notated, and Produced; for grades 9-12, the categories…
Feb. 25, 2025
Works by Missouri Composers Project winners to be performed by Columbia Civic Orchestra, Premiere Vocal Artists in Sunday, April 13 concert
The Columbia Civic Orchestra (CCO) and Premiere Vocal Artists, conducted by Jeremy Wagner, will perform the winning works from the 2025 Missouri Composers Project (MOCOP) competition in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 13 at Broadway Christian Church, 2601 W Broadway in Columbia. Admission to the concert is free and open to the public. Now in its 13th year, MOCOP is a collaborative effort involving the Mizzou New Music Initiative, the Columbia Civic Orchestra, Premiere Vocal Artists, and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. Composers from all over Missouri are invited each year to submit orchestral and choral works for…