July 16, 2021

Composers Festival spotlight: DM R

2021 MICF resident composer DM R (Diana M. Rodriguez) was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia, has lived in Miami and Boston, and currently is based in New York City, where she is a doctoral candidate at Columbia University. She previously earned a master’s degree from the Boston Conservatory and a bachelor’s degree from the…

July 15, 2021

Composers Festival spotlight: Daniel Fitzpatrick

The University of Missouri's representative among the resident composers at this year's MICF is Daniel Fitzpatrick, who currently is studying for his master’s in composition at Mizzou. Fitzpatrick also is a music technology graduate assistant and has served as the pianist of the Mizzou New Music Ensemble. A native of Wentzville, MO, he earned his…

July 14, 2021

Composers Festival spotlight: Khemia Ensemble

Khemia Ensemble in 2021 will be part of the Mizzou International Composers Festival for the the third consecutive year, performing as part of the "Mizzou New Music" online concert on Wednesday, July 28. Their performance will include the premieres of new works by Mizzou professor and MNMI artistic director Stefan Freund, MNMI's former post-doctoral fellow…

July 13, 2021

Composers Festival spotlight: Celka Ojakangas

Resident composer Celka Ojakangas comes to the 2021 Mizzou International Composers Festival from Los Angeles, CA, where she currently is pursuing her doctorate at the University of Southern California, while also serving as a part-time professor of music at Occidental College. The festival also will be a homecoming of sorts for Ojakangas, a Missouri native…

July 12, 2021

Composers Festival spotlight: Karim Sulayman

The Mizzou New Music Initiative will welcome tenor Karim Sulayman as a guest performer for the 2021 Mizzou International Composers Festival. Sulayman (pictured) will appear with resident ensemble Alarm Will Sound when they premiere the first part of distinguished guest composer David T. Little’s monodrama "What Belongs to You" as part of the "World Premieres…

July 9, 2021

Composers Festival spotlight: Shuying Li

Resident composer Shuying Li comes to the 2021 Mizzou International Composers Festival from Spokane, WA, where since 2020 she has served as assistant professor of composition and music theory at Gonzaga University. Yet her musical journey actually began years ago and much further away, at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in her native China. In…

July 8, 2021

Composers Festival spotlight: Paul Mortilla

When Paul Mortilla began his studies at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music in 2014, he already had more experience and training as a composer than most undergraduates. That's because Mortilla, a Florida native who is one of nine resident composers for the 2021 Mizzou International Composers Festival, actually began writing original music on his…

July 7, 2021

Composers Festival spotlight: Yu Kuwabara

The music of composer Yu Kuwabara explores connections between the personal and the traditional, the past and the present, and Japan and the rest of the world. One of the nine resident composers for the 2021 Mizzou International Composers Festival, Kuwabara (pictured) is from Tokyo, and completed her master's degree at Tokyo University of the…