Feb. 2, 2026
MNMI in the news
Here is some recent media coverage of the Mizzou New Music Initiative, its faculty, and students. Trent Fitzsimmons, whose composition Equinox Serenade, will receive its world premiere at the Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis on Thursday, February 5, was interviewed on the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra‘s St. Louis Stories blog. You can read the interview here: Five Questions with Mizzou Composer Trent Fitzsimmons Mizzou’s Maneater wrote about two University of Missouri Music Department faculty members, Stefan…
Jan. 16, 2026
MICF Resident Ensemble Alarm Will Sound Releases New Work by Composer Matt Smith on its YouTube Channel
Contemporary music ensemble Alarm Will Sound has released As Brightness is to Time, a new work by composer Matt Smith on its YouTube channel. Smith was one of eight composers selected to participate in the 2025 Mizzou International Composers Festival. The piece was recorded at Columbia’s Missouri Theatre during its world premiere performance in July, as part of the 2025 MICF. Alarm Will Sound is the MICF Resident Ensemble and includes two University of Missouri School of Music faculty members, Stefan Freund and Bill Kalinkos. Freund is a Professor of Music Composition, the Artistic Director of the Mizzou New Music Initiative, and Director…
Jan. 16, 2026
MICF Resident Ensemble Alarm Will Sound Releases New Work by Composer Geli Li on its YouTube Channel
Contemporary music ensemble Alarm Will Sound has released The Smell of Sunshine, a new work by composer Geli Li on its YouTube channel. Li was one of eight composers selected to participate in the 2025 Mizzou International Composers Festival. The piece was recorded at Columbia’s Missouri Theatre during its world premiere performance in July, as part of the 2025 MICF. Alarm Will Sound is the MICF Resident Ensemble and includes two University of Missouri School of Music faculty members, Stefan Freund and Bill Kalinkos. Freund is a Professor of Music Composition, the Artistic Director of the Mizzou New Music Initiative, and Director of…
Jan. 16, 2026
MICF Resident Ensemble Alarm Will Sound Releases New Work by Composer Seda Balci on its YouTube Channel
Contemporary music ensemble Alarm Will Sound has released Riffscape, a new work by composer Seda Balci on its YouTube channel. Balci was one of eight composers selected to participate in the 2025 Mizzou International Composers Festival. The piece was recorded at Columbia’s Missouri Theatre during its world premiere performance in July, as part of the 2025 MICF. Alarm Will Sound is the MICF Resident Ensemble and includes two University of Missouri School of Music faculty members, Stefan Freund and Bill Kalinkos. Freund is a Professor of Music Composition, the Artistic Director of the Mizzou New Music Initiative, and Director of the Mizzou New Music Ensemble.
Jan. 13, 2026
EIGHT MISSOURI COMPOSERS RECOGNIZED IN STATEWIDE COMPETITION FOR BEST NEW CHORAL AND ORCHESTRAL MUSIC; WINNING COMPOSITIONS TO BE PERFORMED IN COLUMBIA CONCERT ON MARCH 8
Four composers from Missouri have won the 2026 Missouri Composers Project (MOCOP) statewide competition for best new choral and orchestral musical compositions, and four additional composers have been recognized with honorable mentions. Sponsored by the Mizzou New Music Initiative and the University of Missouri School of Music, composers from across Missouri are invited to submit their original orchestral and choral works, with winners selected by blind judging in two age categories: “open” and “high school.” The Columbia Civic Orchestra and Premiere Vocal Artists, conducted by Jeremy Paladino,…
Jan. 3, 2026
2026 GRAMMY-NOMINATED CHAMBER MUSIC ENSEMBLE ALARM WILL SOUND TO PERFORM WORKS BY THREE ACCLAIMED CONTEMPORARY COMPOSERS IN COLUMBIA ON JANUARY 20
The 2026 Grammy Award-nominated chamber music ensemble Alarm Will Sound will present an evening of groundbreaking contemporary classical music including a world premiere performance in Columbia on Tuesday, January 20, 2026. University of Missouri School of Music faculty members Stefan Freund and Bill Kalinkos are founding members of New York-based Alarm Will Sound and will perform in the concert, to be held at the Sinquefield Music Center beginning at 7:30 pm. This concert will take the audience on a unique musical journey from the poetic minimalism of…
Dec. 1, 2025
Mizzou New Music Ensemble Presents December 7 Concert Featuring World Premiere of Dr. John Orfe’s Four Ozark Fable Sketches, Composed Expressly for the Ensemble
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble will present a concert featuring the world premiere of Dr. John Orfe’s Four Ozark Fable Sketches at 7:30 p.m. December 7, in the Sinquefield Music Center’s Sheryl Crow Hall. Written expressly for the MNME, the piece’s four movements – Monarch’s Theme, Monster the First: MoMo, Monster the Second: Spooklights, and Monster the Third: Ozark Howler – are part of an original story in the manner of a folk tale whose characters hail from Missouri folk legends and jazz history. Dr. John Orfe The program includes…
Nov. 26, 2025
MICF Resident Ensemble Alarm Will Sound Releases New Work by Composer Christopher L. Thompson on its YouTube Channel
Contemporary music ensemble Alarm Will Sound has released Shadows Uplifted, a new work by composer Christopher L. Thompson, on its YouTube channel. Thompson was one of eight composers selected to participate in the 2025 Mizzou International Composers Festival. The piece was recorded at Columbia’s Missouri Theatre during its world premiere performance in July, as part of the 2025 MICF. Alarm Will Sound is the MICF Resident Ensemble and includes two University of Missouri School of Music faculty members,…