Feb. 29, 2016
William Lackey leaving Mizzou New Music Initiative; Andrew Worden named interim managing director
The Mizzou New Music Initiative is undergoing what might be called a change of the administrative guard. William J. “Billy” Lackey, who has served as managing director of the Initiative since it was founded in 2009, is leaving Mizzou on March 4 and moving to Minnesota to take a job with American Composers Forum (ACF). Lackey (pictured, top left), who also is an assistant teaching professor of composition at the university, will become vice president of programs for ACF. A search for a permanent replacement at the Mizzou New Music Initiative will begin immediately. In the meantime, Andrew Worden,…
Feb. 16, 2016
Deviant Septet to present world premiere of David Liptak’s “Focusing” in concert Friday, February 26 at Whitmore Recital Hall
The new music group Deviant Septet will present the world premiere of “Focusing,” a new work by composer David Liptak, as part of their concert at 7:30 p.m., Friday, February 26 at Whitmore Recital Hall, 151 Fine Arts Building on the University of Missouri campus. Admission is free and open to the public. The performance will be the final event of simultaneous residencies that week at Mizzou for Liptak and Deviant Septet (pictured), with the premiere of “Focusing” representing the culmination of a three-year process that began in 2013 with a commissioning grant from the…
Feb. 10, 2016
Missouri Composers Orchestra Project selects six works for concert on March 20
For many young composers, writing for orchestra or chorus represents a significant pinnacle of achievement, offering artistic satisfaction and enhancing credibility and career opportunities. Reaching that pinnacle, however, also requires getting that new, large ensemble work played in public, which is not always an easy task when resources are scarce and many music directors tend to rely on familiar favorites. Now, six up-and-coming composers are getting a boost from the Missouri Composers Orchestra Project (MOCOP), as their orchestral and choral works will be performed by the Columbia Civic Orchestra (CCO) and the Columbia Chamber Choir at a…
Feb. 1, 2016
$2 million gift provides continued support for new music at Mizzou
In a news conference on Monday, February 1, the University of Missouri announced that Dr. Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield have given a gift of more than $2 million over three years to support the Mizzou New Music Initiative (MNMI). The MNMI brings together a diverse array of programs which position the MU School of Music as a leading national and international center in the areas of composition and new music. This latest gift will support the MNMI through 2019. The Sinquefields are long-time supporters of music and the arts, specifically music composition. The Sinquefields’…
Jan. 29, 2016
Alarm Will Sound to perform free concert
Saturday, February 13 at Missouri Theatre
The Mizzou New Music Initiative and the University of Missouri School of Music will welcome back to Columbia the acclaimed new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound for a free concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, February 13 at the Missouri Theatre, 203 S 9th St. The concert will feature works by Hungarian avant-garde composer György Sándor Ligeti, who’s considered one of the most influential figures in the history of 20th century music. Born in Hungary in 1923, Ligeti escaped to the West in the late 1950s and, once freed from the artistic restrictions imposed by the Hungarian government, began…
Jan. 21, 2016
Ben Colagiovanni wins “Young Artist” award
in MTNA national composition competition
The University of Missouri’s Ben Colagiovanni is the national winner of the “Young Artist” award in this year’s Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) composition competition. Colagiovanni (pictured) currently is a senior at Mizzou pursuing a bachelor’s degree in music composition. He was recognized for “Forest Park Rhapsody,” one of four works originally commissioned in 2014 by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation for the Mizzou New Music Ensemble to perform at an event for Forest Park Forever’s Leffingwell Society. As a winner of the competition, Colagiovanni will receive a first place prize of $3,000, and “Forest Park Rhapsody”…
Jan. 18, 2016
Mizzou International Composers Festival announces resident composers for 2016
The Mizzou New Music Initiative (MNMI) has selected eight resident composers to participate in the 2016 Mizzou International Composers Festival (MICF). Presented annually since 2010 by MNMI and the University of Missouri School of Music, the MICF in just six years has become the Midwest’s top summer showcase for intriguing new music by composers from around the world. The seventh edition of the festival, scheduled for Monday, July 25 through Saturday, July 30 in Columbia, will feature world premieres of eight new works written by this year’s selected composers. Listed with their current places of residence, they…
Jan. 8, 2016
Hear new music from the Mizzou International Composers Festival
As we anticipate the announcement later this month of the eight resident composers for the 2016 Mizzou International Composers Festival, the interval also provides an opportunity for MNMI to share for the first time some music from the 2015 MICF. For starters, you can use the embedded audio player below to stream “virgin soil,” which was written by 2015 resident composer Conrad Winslow (pictured, upper left) and given a world premiere performance by Alarm Will Sound as part of the grand finale of last summer’s MICF: And here’s Alarm Will Sound performing the world…