Jan. 12, 2021
Entry deadline for 2021 COMP extended to Friday, February 5
Due to the effects of the pandemic on Missouri schools, the Mizzou New Music Initiative and the University of Missouri School of Music are extending the deadline for this year’s Creating Original Music Project (COMP) competition.The new deadline for 2021 COMP submissions will be 11:59 p.m., Friday, February 5, which gives student composers and songwriters in grades K-12 two additional weeks to submit their original music. For more information or to enter, please visit https://newmusic.missouri.edu/comp.
Dec. 4, 2020
MICF alumni in the news
Clockwise from top left: Browne, Simon, Kouyoumdjian, figgis-vizueta, Chandler, LeBoeuf Although the resident composers for the Mizzou International Composers Festival are with us here in Columbia for only a short time each summer, MNMI continues to follow the progress of their careers as the years pass. Congratulations to these MICF alumni on their recent accomplishments: * Works originally written for the MICF by Matt Browne (MICF 2016) and Greg Simon (MICF 2013) won first and second prizes respectively in the “new classics” division of the 2020 International Competition of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory for young composers. You…
Nov. 30, 2020
Mizzou New Music Initiative presenting American Wild Ensemble
in free online concert on Thursday, December 10
The Mizzou New Music Initiative will present the American Wild Ensemble performing “The American Aviatrix” in a free online concert at 7:00 p.m. Thursday, December 10. The program commemorates the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment by honoring the achievements of American women aviators. It will celebrate the lives of two of these groundbreaking women, pilots Bessie Coleman and Amelia Earhart, with world premiere performances of two new works, “Il n’y aura pas de regrets” by Mizzou assistant professor Carolina Heredia and “Livid Loneliness of Fear” by Ingrid Stölzel. The concert also will include a…
Nov. 24, 2020
2021 Mizzou International Composers Festival
gets submissions from around the world
A total of 300 composers from around the world have applied for the four resident composer spots at the 2021 Mizzou International Composers Festival. Submissions were received from 24 different countries, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The 2021 MICF will be held Monday, July 26 through Saturday, July 31, and will feature Chen Yi and David T. Little as distinguished guest composers and Alarm Will Sound as resident…
Nov. 16, 2020
Documentary scored by Mizzou alumni is a YouTube hit
Haley Myers, Tim Pilcher A science documentary with a musical score by two Mizzou alumni has proved to be a major hit with online viewers, this month passing one million views on YouTube. Living Soil, a documentary funded by the national not-for-profit Soil Health Institute, features music written by Haley Myers, a pianist and composer who graduated from Mizzou in 2016 with degrees in music and geography, plus additional works for solo guitar by Tim Pilcher, a musician and sound designer who earned his degree in Spanish at Mizzou. The film is something of a family affair,…
Nov. 4, 2020
Duo Cortona, Evan Chambers doing virtual residencies for Mizzou
While the current pandemic-related restrictions may be limiting some in-person interactions, Mizzou students still are getting opportunities to work with and learn from composers and performers from throughout the world of new music. For example, this month new music ensemble Duo Cortona and composer Evan Chambers both will take part in virtual residencies for MNMI. Chambers (pictured, top left) is a professor of composition at the University of Michigan whose works have been performed by the Cincinnati, Kansas City, Memphis, New Hampshire, and Albany Symphonies, among others. Recordings of his music have been released by labels such as Albany…
Oct. 29, 2020
Mizzou’s 2021 Creating Original Music Project (COMP)
offers awards, cash prizes for Missouri student composers
COMP winners receive personalized plaques, and they and their schools both receive cash prizes At a time when live performances have become scarce, young composers still need opportunities to present their new works, which makes the Mizzou New Music Initiative’s 2021 Creating Original Music Project (COMP) especially timely and relevant for music students from across Missouri. Now in its 16th year, COMP is an annual statewide competition sponsored by the University of Missouri School of Music and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. COMP showcases new, original music from Missouri student composers and songwriters in grades K-12, offering positive recognition…
Oct. 12, 2020
Santiago Beis wins 2021 Sinquefield Composition Prize
The University of Missouri School of Music and the Mizzou New Music Initiative have awarded the 2021 Sinquefield Composition Prize to Santiago Beis. Beis is a first-year graduate student working toward a master’s degree in composition at Mizzou. He submitted “La sed y el Agua” (“Thirst and Water”), a work for piano and string orchestra, to the competition and was selected for the prize by a panel of independent judges. The adjudicators for the 2021 competition were Yigit Kolat, composer and lecturer at the University of Washington; Wendy Richman, violist with the International Contemporary Ensemble and The Rhythm Method; and…