Spotlight on Amy Beth Kirsten

Here's another in our series of profiles of the resident composers taking part in this year's Mizzou New Music Summer Festival: Born in East St. Louis, Illinois, Amy Beth Kirsten grew up in Kansas City and Chicago, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Vocal Jazz Studies from Benedictine University and a master’s degree in…

Mizzou New Music Summer Festival featured in Columbia Daily Tribune

The Mizzou New Music Summer Festival was the subject of a couple of stories published this past Sunday, July 4 in the Columbia Daily Tribune. Staff writer Aarik Danielsen penned an extensive overview of the festival, covering its concept and origins, guest composers and performers, and more. You can read his article online here. Danielsen…

About the Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts

The venue for the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival's public performances will be the Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts, an historic, newly restored former movie palace at 203 S. Ninth St. in downtown Columbia. First opened in 1928, the MTCA had a six-decade run as the city's most prominent movie house, but by the late 1980s,…

Spotlight on Moon Young Ha

Here's another in our series of profiles of the resident composers taking part in this year's Mizzou New Music Summer Festival: Moon Young Ha (pictured) combines classical instruments, video and electronics to create ethereal contemporary concert music. His work has been presented at festivals and concerts in France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Serbia, Lithuania,…

Spotlight on Lisa Moore

The Mizzou New Music Summer Festival is delighted to have pianist Lisa Moore (pictured) as a guest performer. Born in Canberra and raised in Australia and London before moving to the USA in 1980, Moore is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Eastman School of Music and SUNY Stonybrook. She now lives in New…

Spotlight on Christopher Dietz

Here's another in our series of brief profiles of the eight resident composers who will be part of the inaugural Mizzou New Music Summer Festival: The music of Milwaukee native Christopher Dietz (pictured) has been recognized with honors and awards from the Camargo Foundation, the Banff Centre, Copland House, ASCAP’s Morton Gould Young Composer Awards,…

Spotlight on Francisco Cortez-Alvarez

The inaugural Mizzou New Music Summer Festival will feature the world premieres of new works from eight resident composers selected to be part of the event from a group of more than 120 applicants from around the world. Here's the first in a series of brief profiles of those composers: Pianist/composer Francisco Cortes-Alvarez (pictured) was…

Spotlight on Alarm Will Sound

The inaugural Mizzou New Music Summer Festival is fortunate to have Alarm Will Sound (pictured) as our resident ensemble. They'll kick off the festival with a concert at the Missouri Theater and Center for the Arts on Monday, July 12, and will work with our eight emerging composers throughout the week, culminating in the world…