
March 10, 2021
Khemia Ensemble to perform new works by
Mizzou student composers during virtual residency
The new music group Khemia Ensemble will perform new works by five student composers in an online concert as part of a virtual residency this month at Mizzou. The concert of student works will be one of two performances during the residency, which also will include a presentation to the School of Music’s composition seminar as well as individual private lessons and master classes for instrumental students. In their first performance at 7:00 p.m. CDT on Monday, March 22, Khemia Ensemble will present a program of works for solo instruments, featuring music by composers Nicole Chamberlain, Melissa Dunphy, Reena…

March 2, 2021
Mizzou New Music Initiative welcomes
Gahlord Dewald for virtual residency in March
The Mizzou New Music Initiative will welcome Gahlord Dewald for a virtual residency this month and an online concert in April. Dewald (pictured) is a bassist, electronic musician, composer, and community organizer who is based in Burlington, Vermont. His Mizzou residency during the second week of March will include presentations to the School of Music’s introduction to electronic music class and to the composition seminar. He’ll follow up those residency activities next month with a free online streaming performance presented by Mizzou at 7:00 p.m. Monday, April 19. Dewald’s concert will be available to view on the University…

Feb. 8, 2021
Mizzou New Music Ensemble to perform
works by Onishi, Berko in a free online concert
on Wednesday, February 17
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble will perform recent works by Yoshiaki Onishi and Alex Berko in a free online concert at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, February 17. The concert will be available to view on the University of Missouri School of Music’s YouTube channel and the Mizzou New Music Facebook page. “Antefenas-Studies” was written in 2018 by Onishi, who is a postdoctoral fellow in composition at the University of Missouri School of Music and serves as the Ensemble’s assistant conductor. Using both live instrumentation and prerecorded electronics, the piece explores “the kinetics of one sound responding to…

Jan. 28, 2021
Mizzou International Composers Festival announces resident composers for 2021
Clockwise from top left: Ana Paola Santillán Alcocer, Daniel Fitzpatrick, Paul Mortilla & Nina Shekhar The Mizzou New Music Initiative (MNMI) has selected four resident composers to participate in the 2021 Mizzou International Composers Festival (MICF). Presented by MNMI and the University of Missouri School of Music from Monday, July 26 through Saturday, July 31 in Columbia, the twelfth annual MICF will feature world premieres of new works written by each of the selected composers. Listed with their current places of residence, they are: * Ana Paola Santillán Alcocer – Mexico City, Mexico * Daniel Fitzpatrick –…

Jan. 21, 2021
Mizzou New Music Initiative to present Duo Cortona
in a free online concert on Friday, February 5
The Mizzou New Music Initiative will present Duo Cortona in a free online concert at 7:00 p.m. Friday, February 5. The concert will be available to view on the University of Missouri School of Music’s YouTube channel and the Mizzou New Music Facebook page. It was recorded in conjunction with a “virtual residency” in November 2020 by the duo that also included reading and recording new works by Mizzou student composers and making a presentation to composition students. The program will include music by Mizzou assistant professor Carolina Heredia; Evan Chambers, who also had a…

Jan. 19, 2021
Yoshiaki Onishi chosen as MMTA’s Commissioned Composer for 2021
The Missouri Music Teachers Association (MMTA) has selected Yoshiaki Onishi as their Commissioned Composer for 2021. Onishi (pictured), a postdoctoral fellow with the Mizzou New Music Initiative, was chosen after submitting a portfolio of works anonymously to a panel of three judges. As the winner of the award, he will be commissioned to write a new work to be premiered in November 2021 at MMTA’s annual conference. The winners of the Commissioned Composer competition in various states also are eligible to compete for the Music Teachers National Association’s “Distinguished Composer of Year” award, which includes…

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…