April 25, 2014
Mizzou composers, New Music Ensemble
develop new works inspired by Forest Park
Forest Park in St. Louis is the site of all sorts of musical performances, from the sounds of Broadway at the Muny to the St. Louis Symphony’s annual concert on Art Hill to the rock, pop and hip-hop of LouFest, and more. Now, the park itself has become the subject of music, as four Mizzou students have been commissioned by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation to compose new works for the Mizzou New Music Ensemble to perform at “The Sounds of Forest Park,” a private event next month for members of Forest Park Forever‘s Leffingwell Society. In February,…
April 23, 2014
Oratorio premiere draws media attention
The impending premiere this week of Stefan Freund’s Civil War oratorio is drawing plenty of attention from Columbia media. Last week, Freund was interviewed by Trevor Harris of KBIA, and on Sunday, the Columbia Tribune published a feature story by Amy Wilder previewing the production. Mizzou’s news service also had a preview story about the premiere, as did the Columbia Missourian. Though the latter article now is available only to subscribers, the Missourian also produced a short video to go with it, which you can view in the embedded video window below. The world premiere…
April 8, 2014
New oratorio by Mizzou’s Stefan Freund reveals
Missouri’s Civil War history through music
Though the Civil War ended nearly 150 years ago, it remains a continuing subject of fascination for historians and in pop culture, inspiring poems, songs, novels, films and more. Now the war’s divisive effects on the state of Missouri are the subject of a new oratorio by Stefan Freund, an associate professor of composition and music theory at the University of Missouri and co-artistic director of the Mizzou New Music Initiative. The world premiere of “The War Amongst Families and Neighbors: The Civil War in Missouri” will be presented by the University of Missouri School of…
March 20, 2014
MNMI News included in Missouri Arts Council’s
“Snapshots of the Missouri Arts Blogosphere”
The Mizzou New Music Initiative News blog was one of the sites mentioned in the Missouri Arts Council’s recent “Snapshots of the Missouri Arts Blogosphere.” You can read the article rounding up the best of Missouri’s arts blogs through the end of the month (and perhaps a bit longer) by going to their website at https://www.missouriartscouncil.org/ and clicking on the link in the middle of the page. Thanks to MAC’s Barbara MacRobie for the mention!…
Feb. 24, 2014
Missouri Composers Orchestra Project chooses works
by Clark, Strobel and Williams for performance on Sunday, March 16
For a composer of orchestral music, getting a new work performed by a live orchestra represents not only the culmination of many hours of hard work but also the realization of a dream. Now, three Missouri composers will see their work rewarded and hear their dreams realized, as the Columbia Civic Orchestra (CCO) and the Mizzou New Music Initiative have announced the selection of three orchestral works written by Missouri residents to be performed by the CCO at a concert on Sunday, March 16 in Columbia. The winning compositions were chosen in a statewide competition conducted under the auspices…
Feb. 21, 2014
Mizzou New Music Ensemble to perform works by Fox, Cypret, Henderson, Hoercler and Herd on Sunday, March 9 at Whitmore Recital Hall
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble will present their first concert of 2014 at 7:30 p.m., Sunday, March 9 in Whitmore Recital Hall, 135 Fine Arts Building on the University of Missouri campus. Admission is free for Mizzou students, $5 suggested donation for the general public. The program will include new works from four current Mizzou composition students plus one by the late Frederick Fox, former professor of composition at Indiana University. Described as “a dark sonic fantasy” employing innovative instrumental techniques and creative percussion writing, “Devils Tramping Ground,” was written in 1991 by Fox, a jazz-influenced composer and teacher…
Jan. 13, 2014
St. Louis Symphony performs Stephanie Berg’s “Ravish and Mayhem”
Mizzou alumna Stephanie Berg‘s composition “Ravish and Mayhem” was performed by the St. Louis Symphony on January 10 and 11 at Powell Hall in St. Louis to standing ovations from the audiences and rave reviews from local critics. Writing for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, classical music critic Sarah Bryan Miller found “Ravish and Mayhem” to be “a really delightful work…It’s a fun, creative piece, and (guest conductor Andrey) Boreyko and the orchestra rendered it with accuracy and elan.” Miller also called Berg “a promising new compositional voice,” concluding, “We can trust that this won’t be the last…
Nov. 25, 2013
Mizzou New Music Ensemble to perform five new works by student composers on Monday, December 2 at Whitmore Recital Hall
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble’s second concert of the 2013-14 season will take place at 7:30 p.m., Monday, December 2 in Whitmore Recital Hall, 135 Fine Arts Building on the University of Missouri campus. Admission is free for Mizzou students, $5 suggested donation for the general public. The program will include a new work from 2014 Sinquefield Composition Prize winner José Guillermo Martínez Rubiano, plus encore performances of four compositions written by Mizzou students for the recent collaboration between the Mizzou New Music Initiative and the Stephens College dance department. Martinez’ “Canciones de la Ausencia” (“Songs of Absence”)…