Nov. 23, 2011
Stephanie Berg wins statewide composition competition
University of Missouri graduate student Stephanie Berg (pictured) has won this year’s award in the “Young Artist” category of the Missouri State Division of Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) composition competition. Berg, who is pursuing a Master’s degree in clarinet performance and composition at Mizzou, was recognized for her piece “Of Air Sweet and Water Deep.” The work was composed in 2010 for the Mizzou New Music Ensemble and premiered at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis as part of a tribute to the Garden’s President Emeritus, Dr. Peter Raven. “Of Air Sweet and Water Deep”…
Nov. 23, 2011
Kirsten, Podgursky win commissions from Harvard’s Fromm Foundation
Congratulations to Amy Beth Kirsten and Jeremy Podgursky, both resident composers at the inaugural Mizzou New Music Summer Festival in 2010, for winning $10,000 commissions this year from Harvard University’s Fromm Music Foundation. The Fromm Music Foundation has been located at Harvard since 1972, and has commissioned more than 300 new compositions and their performances, as well as sponsoring hundreds of new music concerts and concert series. Kirsten and Podgursky are among 12 winners of commissions this year.
Nov. 1, 2011
Missouri Composers Orchestra Project seeks recent works for performance in March
The Columbia Civic Orchestra (CCO) and the Mizzou New Music Initiative are looking for recent orchestral compositions written by Missouri residents to perform at a concert in March, 2012. To inaugurate the Missouri Composers Orchestra Project, a new program sponsored by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation, the CCO will present a concert of six recent works by Missouri composers at 7:00 p.m., Saturday, March 10 at Columbia College’s Launer Auditorium, 901 Rogers Street in Columbia. Four of the works presented at the concert will be selected through a competitive process – one from the High School category…
Oct. 19, 2011
Michael E. Anderson wins 2012 Sinquefield Composition Prize
Mizzou senior Michael E. Anderson is the winner of the 2012 Sinquefield Composition Prize The University of Missouri School of Music and the Mizzou New Music Initiative are pleased to announce that Michael E. Anderson (pictured) is the winner of the 2012 Sinquefield Composition Prize. Anderson, a Mizzou senior, submitted his piece “At the Mercy of the Forest” to the competition and was selected for the prize by a panel of independent judges. The adjudicators for the 2012 competition were Warren Gooch, professor of music theory and composition at Truman State University in Kirksville, MO; Martin Kennedy, assistant professor…
Oct. 14, 2011
Seventh annual Creating Original Music Project (C.O.M.P.) competition offers prizes, recognition for Missouri student composers
From concert halls to Hollywood movies to TV, video games, commercials and more, every minute of music we hear starts with a composer – and every composer needs a start. Giving young composers their start is the purpose of the Mizzou New Music Initiative’s Creating Original Music Project (C.O.M.P), an annual statewide competition now in its seventh year that recognizes Missouri students in grades K-12 who compose original music in a variety of styles. Sponsored by the University of Missouri School of Music and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation, C.O.M.P. in September mailed information to music teachers across the state inviting…
Sep. 30, 2011
Mizzou New Music Ensemble to feature works from Missouri composers in concert on Monday, October 10 at Whitmore Recital Hall
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble (pictured) will open its 2011-12 season with a concert at 8:00 p.m., Monday, October 10 at Whitmore Recital Hall, 135 Fine Arts Building on the University of Missouri campus. Admission to the concert is free and open to the public. The concert will feature a program written entirely by Missouri composers and including three world premiere performances, said Stefan Freund, who directs the Ensemble. “Drumming,” composed in 2011 by Mizzou senior Joe Widinger, is “filled with rhythmic energy as figures are passed amongst members of the ensemble,” said Freund, while Mizzou graduate…
Sep. 6, 2011
2012 Mizzou New Music Summer Festival to be held July 23 – 28
The Mizzou New Music Initiative will present the third annual Mizzou New Music Summer Festival from Monday, July 23, 2012 through Sunday, July 28 on the campus of the University of Missouri. The 2012 Festival will include a series of public concerts featuring music from contemporary composers, as well as workshops, master classes and other events. The Festival’s guest composers for 2012 will be Steven Stucky (pictured), winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for composition and professor at Cornell University; and Donnacha Dennehy, a native of Dublin who is one of the leading contemporary composers in Ireland.
Sep. 6, 2011
New Music Initiative benefactors featured in Philanthropy magazine
Dr. Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield, whose generous donations established and continue to fund the Mizzou New Music Initiative, were featured in the July issue of Philanthropy magazine as part of a symposium of America’s leading arts donors. The Sinquefields and the other philanthropists interviewed responded to three different questions about funding the arts. You can see their responses here (scroll down each page to find the Sinquefields): Tell Me About A Really Smart Grant to the Arts http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/article.asp?article=1682&paper=0&cat=149 What Is Your Favorite Hidden Gem in Arts and Culture? http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/article.asp?article=1683&paper=0&cat=149 Tell Me Something I Don’t Know about…