Oct. 29, 2012

Mizzou International Composers Festival extends application deadline

This just in: Due to the anticipated effects of Hurricane Sandy, the deadline for applications to be a resident composer at the 2013 Mizzou International Composers Festival has been extended to Wednesday, November 7. For details on the Festival and how to apply, please visit http://composersfestival.missouri.edu/application.html

Oct. 29, 2012

David Witter wins 2013 Sinquefield Composition Prize

The University of Missouri School of Music and the Mizzou New Music Initiative are pleased to announce that David Witter is the winner of the 2013 Sinquefield Composition Prize. Witter, who holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in composition from Mizzou, submitted his piece “Garden Music” to the competition and was selected for the prize by a panel of independent judges. The adjudicators for the 2013 competition were: * Mara Gibson, director of the Community Music and Dance Academy and a member of the composition faculty at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance in Kansas City;…

Oct. 10, 2012

“Music and New Media at the Crossroads”
scheduled for Thursday, October 18 and Friday, October 19

Next week, the University of Missouri will host an interdisciplinary symposium and festival, “Music and New Media at the Crossroads,” on Thursday, October 18 and Friday October 19. Described as “an exploration of the profound ways in which new media and technologies are changing the way we create, disseminate, receive, and comment about music,” the event is presented by the School of Music and School of Journalism in partnership with the University Concert Series and includes four public programs. At 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, composer Tod Machover (pictured), head of the MIT Media Lab’s Opera of…

Oct. 9, 2012

Mizzou New Music Ensemble opens 2012-13 season with concert on Monday, October 15 at Whitmore Recital Hall

The Mizzou New Music Ensemble will open their 2012-13 season with a concert at 7:30 p.m., Monday, October 15 in Whitmore Recital Hall, 135 Fine Arts Building on the University of Missouri campus. Admission is free for Mizzou students, $5 suggested donation for the general public. For the season opener, the Ensemble (pictured) will perform five recent pieces by composers associated with the University, along with two parts of Daniel Kellogg’s extended work Divinum Mysterium. Kellogg, an associate professor of music at the University of Colorado, will be one of the guest composers for the 2013 Mizzou International Composers…

Oct. 3, 2012

Sinquefield Charitable Foundation commissions new works from Mizzou composers to celebrate The Sheldon’s 100th anniversary

The famous German composer Robert Schumann once said, “In order to compose, all you need to do is remember a tune that nobody else has thought of.” While that may be true, getting that new composition performed and heard once it is written can be another matter entirely. For an emerging composer writing music inspired by the classical tradition, performance opportunities can be few and far between. To give some of those composers a chance to be heard, the Mizzou New Music Initiative, the Sheldon Concert Hall and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation have joined forces to commission…

Oct. 1, 2012

Augusta Read Thomas, Daniel Kellogg named as guest composers for the 2013 Mizzou International Composers Festival

Continuing its emerging tradition of pairing an acknowledged master and a rising star, the Mizzou New Music Initiative has named Augusta Read Thomas and Daniel Kellogg as guest composers for the 2013 Mizzou International Composers Festival (MICF). Formerly known as the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival, the MICF will be held from Monday, July 22, 2013 through Saturday, July 27 on the campus of the University of Missouri. As in the past, the 2013 Festival will feature a series of public concerts featuring music from contemporary composers, as well as workshops, master classes and other events. The…

Sep. 10, 2012

Mizzou New Music Initiative’s summer event gets a new name:
Mizzou International Composers Festival

With applicants coming from dozens of countries on five different continents, the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival already has attracted significant international attention in its first three years. The composers from abroad who have been selected to participate clearly have influenced the Festival’s musical direction. They also have helped to spread the word about the event much farther and faster than originally anticipated. In a nod to these welcome developments, the event now will be known as the Mizzou International Composers Festival, effective immediately. Though the name has changed, the format will remain essentially the same. The…

Aug. 31, 2012

“Conversations with Composers” podcast – Episode 103

Here’s the third installment in our series of “Conversations With Composers” podcasts recorded at this year’s Mizzou New Music Summer Festival. Episode 103 is the second and final part of a conversation including guest composer Donnacha Dennehy and resident composers Stephanie Berg, Brian Ciach, Charlie Piper and Asha Srinivasan. Give it a listen using the embedded player below:…