July 20, 2016
Composers Festival spotlight: Trey Makler
Originally from Farmington, Missouri, Trey Makler is Mizzou’s representative among this year’s group of eight resident composers at the Mizzou International Composers Festival. Makler (pictured) just completed his senior year in Columbia, earning his bachelor’s degree studying composition with Stefan Freund and oboe with Dan Willett. While an undergraduate, he has served as vice-president of the Mizzou Composers Guild and president of the Zeta Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia national music fraternity, and he’s also quite familiar with the MICF, having been a production coordinator for the festival for the past three…
July 19, 2016
Composers Festival spotlight: Erin Gee
The innovative composer of vocal music Erin Gee is one of the two distinguished guest composers at this year’s Mizzou International Composers Festival. In that capacity, she’ll give a public presentation on her music; teach and interact informally with the festival’s eight resident composers; and be in the audience for performances of her work in concerts by Alarm Will Sound on Thursday night and the Mizzou New Music Ensemble on Friday night. Currently an assistant professor of composition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Gee (pictured) is known particularly for her series of…
July 18, 2016
Composers Festival spotlight: Ryan Lindveit
Resident composer Ryan Lindveit comes to this summer’s Mizzou International Composers Festival with a brand new bachelor of music degree in composition from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, from which he graduated summa cum laude this spring and was selected as Salutatorian for the class of 2016. Lindveit (pictured) also was named this year’s “Outstanding Graduate” from the Thornton School of Music and received both the Composition Department Award and the USC Discovery Scholars Prize, a competitive postgraduate grant awarded to ten graduating seniors for the creation of outstanding original work…
July 18, 2016
Composers Festival spotlight: Missouri Saxophone Quartet
In addition to a performance by the Mizzou New Music Ensemble, the Friday night concert of the Mizzou International Composers Festival usually features one or more guest artists, and this year’s “Mizzou New Music” concert will include some selections from the Missouri Saxophone Quartet. Formed in 2009, the MSQ includes Leo Saguiguit (soprano sax), Adrianne Honnold (alto sax), Joel Vanderheyden (tenor sax), and Matthew Kendrick (baritone sax). Collectively, they play a variety of musical styles, from baroque transcriptions and traditional French repertoire to jazz, tango, and avant-garde, but are particularly “devoted to exploring and promoting…
July 15, 2016
Composers Festival spotlight: Mary Kouyoumdjian
Although composer Mary Kouyoumdjian was born in the USA, her music definitely is informed by perspectives from beyond its’ borders. As a first generation Armenian-American from a family directly affected by the Lebanese civil war and Armenian genocide, Kouyoumdjian uses a sonic palette that, in her words, “draws on her heritage, interest in music as documentary, and background in experimental composition to progressively blend the old with the new.” Based in Brooklyn, New York, Kouyoumdjian (pictured) is one of the eight resident composers for the 2016 Mizzou International Composers Festival, for which she’s written a…
July 13, 2016
2016 Mizzou International Composers Festival
schedule of events and ticket information
Here’s the complete schedule of events and information on how to get tickets for the 2016 Mizzou International Composers Festival. The 2016 MICF begins on Monday, July 25 and continues through Saturday, July 30. Festival events will be held at the Fine Arts Building and Loeb Hall on the University of Missouri campus and at the Missouri Theatre in downtown Columbia, including: Monday, July 25 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Matthew Browne, Resident Composer Presentation Fine Arts Building Room 145 on the MU campus Open to the Public 11:00 a.m. – 12:00…
July 12, 2016
Composers Festival spotlight: Matthew Browne
It’s been a busy year for Matthew Browne. Even before coming to Columbia as one of the eight resident composers for the Mizzou International Composers Festival, he’s already been one of seven young composers attending the 13th annual Composer Institute sponsored by the Minnesota Orchestra in conjunction with the American Composers Forum. Not only that, just before his visit to Missouri, he’ll be taking part in the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s 2016 Edward T. Cone Composition Institute at Princeton University. Born in Burlington, Vermont and raised in Colorado, Browne (pictured) currently is working on a…
July 11, 2016
Composers Festival spotlight: Takuma Itoh
As preparations continue for the official start of the Mizzou International Composers Festival on Monday, July 25, this will be the first of a series of brief profiles of the resident composers, distinguished guest composers, and musicians taking part in this year’s MICF, including (whenever possible) samples of their music. Born in Japan, raised in Northern California, and now living in Hawaiʻi, where since 2012 he has been a faculty member at the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa, Takuma Itoh brings a well-traveled perspective to his turn as a resident composer at this year’s festival.