Oct. 27, 2015
Missouri Composers Orchestra Project seeks
orchestral, choral works for performance in March
For the past four years, the Missouri Composers Orchestra Project (MOCOP) has been providing performance opportunities for new orchestral music written by Missouri residents. For its fifth year, MOCOP is expanding, both musically and geographically. The 2016 competition will include both choral and orchestral works in five categories, three for Missouri composers and two added specifically for composers currently studying at schools in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). MOCOP is a collaborative effort involving the Mizzou New Music Initiative, Columbia Civic Orchestra (pictured), and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. Each year, recently composed works are selected through a…
Oct. 23, 2015
University Singers to premiere new work by Chen Yi
This weekend, the Mizzou New Music Initiative and the University of Missouri School of Music will have the honor of welcoming Chen Yi for a brief residency on the MU campus and a world premiere. Chen (pictured) currently is a distinguished professor of composition at the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. A finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her composition “Si Ji” (“Four Seasons”), she was born and raised in Guangzhou, China and is known as a prolific composer who blends Chinese and Western traditions, transcending cultural…
Oct. 9, 2015
Composer David Maslanka to visit Mizzou
Although the Mizzou International Composers Festival represents the largest gathering of composers taking place each year in Columbia, the School of Music and the Mizzou New Music Initiative also are pleased to be able to host individual composers for short-term residencies during the school year. Composer David Maslanka (pictured) will be in residence at Mizzou next week, and he’ll have a busy schedule while he’s visiting Columbia. On Tuesday, October 13, Maslanka will present a seminar for composition students, and that evening, the Missouri Quintet will perform a concert including one of his works…
Oct. 7, 2015
Henry Breneman Stewart wins 2016 Sinquefield Composition Prize
The University of Missouri School of Music and the Mizzou New Music Initiative have awarded the 2016 Sinquefield Composition Prize to Henry Breneman Stewart. Stewart, a native of Lancaster County, PA, is a first-year graduate student at Mizzou studying composition with Stefan Freund and piano with Janice Wenger. He submitted “Threnody,” a work for string quartet, to the competition and was selected for the prize by a panel of independent judges. The adjudicators for the 2016 competition were: * R. Paul Crabb, director of choral activities, University of Missouri; and artistic director, Prometheus;…
Sep. 24, 2015
2016 Mizzou International Composers Festival set for July 25 – 30;
applications for eight resident composers now open
The Mizzou New Music Initiative is now accepting applications for eight resident composers to take part in the 2016 Mizzou International Composers Festival (MICF), which will be held Monday, July 25 through Saturday, July 30 on the campus of the University of Missouri in Columbia. British/American composer Oscar Bettison (pictured) will serve as one of the MICF’s two distinguished guest composers, teaching and consulting with the resident composers and ensemble. The second distinguished guest composer will be announced at a later date. The MICF features three public concerts of music from contemporary composers, as well…
Sep. 18, 2015
Mizzou New Music Ensemble to perform music by Chen Yi and David Maslanka, plus new student works on Monday, October 12 at Whitmore Recital Hall
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble will perform music written by two upcoming composers-in-residence in a concert at 7:30 p.m., Monday, October 12 in Whitmore Recital Hall, 135 Fine Arts Building on the University of Missouri campus. Admission is free for Mizzou students, faculty and staff with ID, $5 for the general public. The concert will feature performances of “Out of This World” by David Maslanka, a work inspired by the poets Seamus Heaney and Czeslaw Milosz, and “Sparkle” by Chen Yi, described by its composer as “bright” and “nimble.” Maslanka, a Montana resident and freelance…
July 21, 2015
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 assistant teaching professor and director of entrepreneurship and community programs. Savvidou received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and earned MM and DMA degrees in piano performance and pedagogy from the University of…
July 19, 2015
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 Alarm Will Sound to play at the festival is called “embers, fused to ash,” and you can read some of his thoughts about it and see a bit of the score here. McManus’ acoustic works have been performed by the…