July 22, 2014

Composers Festival Spotlight: Zhou Long

It's an honor to have Zhou Long as one of the two guest composers at this year's Mizzou International Composers Festival. Currently the Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, Zhou won the Pulitzer Prize in music in 2011 for his…

July 21, 2014

Columbia media previews 2014 MICF

With the 2014 Mizzou International Composers Festival starting today, the Columbia Daily Tribune had two stories in Sunday's paper, plus another online, which together offer a thorough preview of the week's events. The Tribune's Aarik Danielsen interviewed managing director Billy Lackey and resident composer José Martínez for an overview of the festival, and also wrote…

July 20, 2014

Composers Festival Spotlight: Nico Muhly

It's a great pleasure to have Nico Muhly as one of the two guest composers for the 2014 Mizzou International Composers Festival. One of the most talked-about individuals on the contemporary music scene, often provocative and occasionally controversial, Muhly will work with the MICF's eight resident composers both as…

July 19, 2014

Composers Festival Spotlight: Christopher Weiss

2014 MICF resident composer Christopher Weiss may have been born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and grown up in the northeast, but as it turns out, his musical beginnings have a connection to the Show-Me State. His paternal grandfather, a fisheries biologist here in Missouri, was an amateur violin-maker who…

July 18, 2014

Composers Festival Spotlight: José Martínez

Resident composer José Martínez is representing the University of Missouri and the Mizzou New Music Initiative at this year's MICF. Originally from Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, José earned his diploma at the Conservatory of Music at the National University of Colombia in Bogotá, and currently is studying for…

July 18, 2014

Composers Festival Spotlight: Mizzou New Music Ensemble

One week from tonight, the Mizzou New Music Ensemble will take the stage at the Missouri Theatre as part of the "Mizzou New Music" concert of the 2014 Mizzou International Composers Festival. Comprised of graduate students on scholarship, the Ensemble is directed by faculty composer and Alarm…

July 17, 2014

Composers Festival Spotlight: Ashley Fu-Tsun Wang

Ashley Fu-Tsun Wang is another of the resident composers helping to put the "international" into this year's Mizzou International Composers Festival. A native of Taiwan, Ashley comes to the MICF via the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she's studying for a Doctor of Musical Arts degree. Ashley…

July 17, 2014

Composers Festival Spotlight: Nicholas Omiccioli

Although this year's Mizzou International Composers Festival is in one sense the most international to date, with resident composers who were born in Australia, Colombia, South Korea and Taiwan in addition to the USA, it's also the first MICF with two resident composers currently living in Missouri. One is…