Aaron Mencher wins third place in American Prize composition competition

Mizzou student composer Aaron Mencher's piece "New" last month was awarded third place in the 2016 American Prize in Composition - Band/Wind Ensemble, Student Division competition. Mencher (pictured) is a sophomore composition major and Sinquefield Scholar from John’s Creek, GA, a suburb of Atlanta. "New" previously was a winner in the 2015 NAfME Student Composers…

Composer Don Freund in residence this weekend at Mizzou

This weekend, the Mizzou New Music Initiative will welcome composer Don Freund to campus for a four-day residency. A professor of composition at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music since 1992, Freund (pictured) is an internationally recognized composer whose works range from solo, chamber, and orchestral music to pieces involving live performances with electronic…

Third Coast Percussion residency: A look back

From the Grammy Awards to Mizzou with Third Coast Percussion

When Third Coast Percussion visits the University of Missouri next week, not only will they be coming directly from the Grammy Awards, they'll actually be bringing a bit of Mizzou along with them. The Chicago-based group is nominated for a Grammy this year in the category of "Best Chamber Music/ Small Ensemble Performance" for their…

Mizzou New Music Ensemble to present works by Freund, Haas, Visconti, McKenney, and Heruth on Monday, February 27 at Whitmore Recital Hall

The Mizzou New Music Ensemble’s first performance of 2017 will include music from a visiting guest composer, new works written by a longtime faculty member and a Mizzou student, and a sneak preview of this summer’s Mizzou International Composers Festival. The concert is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Monday, February 27 at Whitmore Recital Hall on…

Composer Louis Goldford visiting Mizzou campus in February

Louis Goldford will be the first visiting composer on the Mizzou campus in 2017, coming to Columbia next month for a weekend residency that will include a presentation of works, a coaching session with the Mizzou New Music Ensemble, and a concert. Two of his compositions - "Travertine Hybrid #3," for violin and electronics, and…

Dustin Dunn wins second place in MTNA’s national composition competition

Mizzou student Dustin Dunn has placed second in the "Young Artist" category of this year's Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) national composition competition. Dunn (pictured), a junior working on a bachelor’s degree in music composition, was recognized for “Of Stained Glass and Hymnody,” which was premiered in March 2016 by the Mizzou New Music Ensemble.…

Missouri Composers Project selects works from four generations for Columbia Civic Orchestra concert on Sunday, March 19

The Mizzou New Music Initiative (MNMI) offers a variety of programs supporting composers throughout their careers, and the results of this year’s Missouri Composers Project (MOCOP) competition are a particularly vivid demonstration of MNMI’s generational and geographic reach, with the four winning works coming from composers living across the state who range in age from…