Composers Festival spotlight: New Muse Piano Duo
The New Muse Piano Duo is another relatively recent addition to the University of Missouri's ensembles in residence, and will be making their Mizzou International Composers Festival debut this year as part of Friday's "Mizzou New Music" concert. Individually, Paola Savvidou serves as assistant professor of piano pedagogy at Mizzou, while Jonathan Kuuskoski is an…
Composers Festival spotlight: Andrew McManus
A native of Massachusetts, 2015 MICF resident composer Andrew McManus currently lives in Chicago, where he earned his PhD at the University of Chicago, studying with Marta Ptaszynska, Augusta Read Thomas, Shulamit Ran and Howard Sandroff. He also holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and Yale University. The work McManus has composed for…
Composers Festival spotlight: Conrad Winslow
Even before coming to Columbia for the 2015 Mizzou International Composers Festival, resident composer Conrad Winslow has been all over these United States. As his professional bio puts it, "Extended childhood road-trips through the continental United States and a residential stint in Hawaii have taught him to look wide." Raised in Homer, Alaska and now…
Composers Festival spotlight: Anthony Vine
One of two resident composers at this year's Mizzou International Composers Festival now based in Brooklyn, NYC, Anthony Vine originally hails from Warren, OH. He earned a B.M. in composition from The Ohio State University and an M.A. in composition from the University of Washington, and is the founder and artistic director of CNX: The…
Composers Festival spotlight: Thomas Dougherty
Resident composer Thomas Dougherty comes to the 2015 Mizzou International Composers Festival from Houston, TX, where he earned his master of music degree in composition from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and has served as composer and violinist for the Da Camera of Houston Young Artists Program. Very soon, though, he'll move…
Composers Festival spotlight: Justin Pounds
Resident composer Justin Pounds is the University of Missouri's representative at the 2015 Mizzou International Composers Festival, and along with Christopher Stark, one of two resident composers this year with ties to Missouri and St. Louis. A St. Louis native who grew up in the suburb of Oakville, Pounds earned his bachelor of music degree…
Composers Festival spotlight: Alessandro Ratoci
Alessandro Ratoci has the longest journey of any of this year's resident composers to get to the 2015 Mizzou International Composers Festival, coming to Columbia from Lausanne, Switzerland, where he teaches electronic music at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Genève (Geneva University of Music). Born in Tuscany, Italy, Ratoci majored in composition, piano, and…
Composers Festival spotlight: Christopher Stark
Christopher Stark is one of eight resident composers for the 2015 Mizzou International Composers Festival, and, along with Mizzou's Justin Pounds, one of two resident composers this year with ties to Missouri and the St. Louis area. Currently an assistant professor of composition at Washington University in St. Louis, Stark is a native of Polson,…