Feb. 29, 2016

William Lackey leaving Mizzou New Music Initiative; Andrew Worden named interim managing director

The Mizzou New Music Initiative is undergoing what might be called a change of the administrative guard. William J. “Billy” Lackey, who has served as managing director of the Initiative since it was founded in 2009, is leaving Mizzou on March 4 and moving to Minnesota to take a job with American Composers Forum (ACF). Lackey (pictured, top left), who also is an assistant teaching professor of composition at the university, will become vice president of programs for ACF. A search for a permanent replacement at the Mizzou New Music Initiative will begin immediately. In the meantime, Andrew Worden,…

Feb. 1, 2016

$2 million gift provides continued support for new music at Mizzou

In a news conference on Monday, February 1, the University of Missouri announced that Dr. Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield have given a gift of more than $2 million over three years to support the Mizzou New Music Initiative (MNMI). The MNMI brings together a diverse array of programs which position the MU School of Music as a leading national and international center in the areas of composition and new music. This latest gift will support the MNMI through 2019. The Sinquefields are long-time supporters of music and the arts, specifically music composition. The Sinquefields’…

Jan. 29, 2016

Alarm Will Sound to perform free concert
Saturday, February 13 at Missouri Theatre

The Mizzou New Music Initiative and the University of Missouri School of Music will welcome back to Columbia the acclaimed new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound for a free concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, February 13 at the Missouri Theatre, 203 S 9th St. The concert will feature works by Hungarian avant-garde composer György Sándor Ligeti, who’s considered one of the most influential figures in the history of 20th century music. Born in Hungary in 1923, Ligeti escaped to the West in the late 1950s and, once freed from the artistic restrictions imposed by the Hungarian government, began…

Jan. 21, 2016

Ben Colagiovanni wins “Young Artist” award
in MTNA national composition competition

The University of Missouri’s Ben Colagiovanni is the national winner of the “Young Artist” award in this year’s Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) composition competition. Colagiovanni (pictured) currently is a senior at Mizzou pursuing a bachelor’s degree in music composition. He was recognized for “Forest Park Rhapsody,” one of four works originally commissioned in 2014 by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation for the Mizzou New Music Ensemble to perform at an event for Forest Park Forever’s Leffingwell Society. As a winner of the competition, Colagiovanni will receive a first place prize of $3,000, and “Forest Park Rhapsody”…

Jan. 7, 2016

José Martínez selected by Third Coast Percussion
for 2016-17 Emerging Composers Partnership

Mizzou graduate student José Martínez has been selected by Third Coast Percussion to take part in their Emerging Composers Partnership for the 2016-17 season. The Chicago-based ensemble chose Martínez (pictured) and Princeton graduate student Annika K. Socolofsky from among 99 applicants this year for the partnership program, which now is entering its third season. Both composers will take part in a series of collaborative workshops in Chicago and create new works for Third Coast Percussion, which then will be premiered as part of the ensemble’s hometown concert series. Each composer also will receive an honorarium and a…

Dec. 14, 2015

Colagiovanni wins West Central Division of MTNA composition competition

Mizzou’s Ben Colagiovanni has advanced to the next level in this year’s Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) composition competition, winning the “Young Artist” award in the West Central Division. Colagiovanni, a senior pursuing a bachelor’s degree in music composition, previously was recognized as a state winner for “Forest Park Rhapsody.” Now, as a division winner, his work automatically advances to the national competition, the results of which will be announced by the end of January. The national MTNA composition competition offers a first place prize of $3,000, plus a performance at the Winners Concert during the…

Nov. 27, 2015

Mizzou New Music Ensemble, Exit 128 Orchestra
to perform Sunday, December 6 at Missouri Theatre

The Mizzou New Music Ensemble will join forces with the Exit 128 Chamber Orchestra to present “Electric New Music” at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, December 6 at the Missouri Theatre, 203 South 9th St. Admission is free for Mizzou students, faculty and staff with ID, $5 for the general public. The first half of the concert will feature Exit 128, a student-run ensemble conducted by music director and Mizzou senior Travis Herd. They’ll perform three selections, starting with “Assembly Lines” by Ian Dicke, who was a resident composer at the 2014 Mizzou International Composers Festival Resident Composer and is assistant…

Nov. 20, 2015

Dustin Dunn featured in Mizzou alumni magazine

Composition major Dustin Dunn is featured in the latest issue of Mizzou magazine, which was mailed to alumni and other subscribers earlier this week. Dunn, a sophomore from Annapolis, Missouri, is attending Mizzou on a full Sinquefield Scholarship from the Mizzou New Music Initiative. “My future changed with a letter that said, ‘Congratulations! You have a full-tuition scholarship to the University of Missouri for the next four years,” he told reporter Dale Smith. “That’s when I knew that I was going to get an undergraduate experience that no one in my family had ever gotten before.” You…