
Oct. 2, 2020
Feature film scored by Mizzou alumnus Grant Fonda opening Friday, October 9
A feature film with a score composed by a Mizzou alumnus will open this month in movie theaters across the country. Pray: the Story of Patrick Peyton, directed by Jonathan Cipiti and scored by Grant Fonda, is set to hit theaters nationwide on Friday, October 9. The documentary tells the story of Patrick Peyton, an Irish immigrant who in 1928 came to the US in hopes of becoming a millionaire, and instead ended up joining the priesthood, championing the idea that “the family who prays together stays together.” Fonda (pictured), who earned his master’s degree in music from…

Aug. 17, 2020
Carolina Heredia wins commission from Barlow Endowment
Mizzou assistant professor Carolina Heredia has won a commission for 2020 from the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition. Heredia was one of 15 composers selected from among 286 applications this year to the Endowment’s General and LDS commissioning programs, which will award grants totaling $83,000 to the winners. The Barlow Endowment was established in September 1983 through a gift from Milton A. and Gloria Barlow to Brigham Young University for the purpose of “engendering and supporting excellence in musical composition through the university and the BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications.” The Endowment hosts an international…

Aug. 11, 2020
A look back at the 2020 Mizzou International Composers Festival online

July 13, 2020
Mizzou International Composers Festival going online for 2020,
will take place Monday, July 27 – Saturday, August 1
Clockwise from top: Alarm Will Sound, Khemia Ensemble, Mizzou New Music Ensemble Responding to the restrictions on live events imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mizzou International Composers Festival is going online for 2020. The 11th annual edition of the MICF is set for Monday, July 27 through Saturday, August 1, with events streamed online from the Facebook pages of the Mizzou New Music Initiative and resident ensembles Alarm Will Sound and Khemia Ensemble, and from the YouTube channels of the University of Missouri School of Music, Alarm Will Sound, and Khemia Ensemble. At 9:00 p.m. CDT on…

April 20, 2020
Mizzou’s 2020 Summer Composition Institute to proceed online
Following the policies announced by the University of Missouri, this year’s Missouri Summer Composition Institute, scheduled from Monday, June 21 through Saturday, June 27, will take place entirely online. The high school students and incoming first-year college students participating in the program still will receive extensive personal instruction and interaction with Mizzou faculty, and will be able to hear the Khemia Ensemble bring their compositions to life. Activities will include daily courses in notation, instrumentation, and repertoire; daily private composition lessons; workshops with members of the Khemia Ensemble; and a remote chamber music recording workshop. Because of the…

March 23, 2020
Mizzou New Music Initiative cancels or postpones
all public events through the end of May
Following the policies announced by the University of Missouri and the directives of local, state and federal officials, the Mizzou New Music Initiative has canceled or postponed all public events effective immediately and continuing through the end of May. The Student Composers Recital originally scheduled on Tuesday, April 14 and the Mizzou New Music Ensemble concert on Monday, April 27 are canceled and will not be rescheduled. The postponed events are: * Reading of Mizzou composers’ new works by the St. Louis Symphony on Sunday, March 29 at Powell Hall in St. Louis * Missouri Composers Project (MOCOP) concert…

March 10, 2020
Missouri student composers to present award-winning works
at Mizzou’s COMP Festival on Saturday, April 25 in Columbia
All COMP winners receive personalized plaques and cash prizes, plus cash prizes for their schools. Talented young composers and songwriters from all across Missouri will come together for a performance of their award-winning works at the Mizzou New Music Initiative’s 15th annual Creating Original Music Project (COMP) Festival from 11:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturday, April 25 in the Sinquefield Music Center on the campus of the University of Missouri. Admission is free and open to the public. The junior division concert, featuring works from elementary and middle school winners of this year’s competition, begins at 11:30 a.m., with…

Feb. 28, 2020
Mizzou New Music Ensemble to preview music from upcoming tour of South America and more on Monday, March 9 at Sinquefield Music Center
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble will present a preview of music from their upcoming tour of South America and more in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 9 at the Sinquefield Music Center on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia. The concert is free and open to the public. For their first concert of 2020 and their first public performance at the new Sinquefield Music Center, the Ensemble (pictured) will play two new works written by Mizzou graduate composition students, “Cataretê” by Luis Hermano Bezerra and “Ancient Echoes” by Daniel Fitzpatrick. Both pieces were composed specifically for…