June 27, 2011
The Sound of Art documents collaboration between composers, visual artists
The Mizzou New Music Initiative has released online three episodes of The Sound of Art, a series of short films documenting collaborative efforts between composers and visual artists. Now available for viewing on the Missouri New Music Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/moNEWmusic, the films cover the creation of three new compositions inspired by the summer 2010 exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and the premiere performances of those compositions at the Contemporary by the Mizzou New Music Ensemble. Episode 1 features an interview with composer David Witter, who wrote “Failure to Communicate” in response to artist…
June 8, 2011
Tickets now on sale for 2011 Mizzou New Music Summer Festival
Tickets are now on sale for the 2011 Mizzou New Music Summer Festival, which will be held Monday, July 11 through Saturday, July 16 in Columbia. The weeklong series of events will include four public concerts, with the grand finale featuring the world premieres of new works written by the festival’s eight resident composers and performed by the acclaimed new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound. The final concert will take place at 7:00 p.m., Saturday, July 16 at the Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts (MTCA), 203 S. Ninth St. in downtown Columbia. Other…
April 27, 2011
Mizzou New Music Summer Festival announces
selection of eight resident composers for 2011
The University of Missouri School of Music and the Mizzou New Music Initiative have selected eight resident composers for the 2011 Mizzou New Music Summer Festival, which will be held Monday, July 11 through Saturday, July 16 in Columbia. They are: * Kari Besharse, Champaign IL * David Biedenbender, Ann Arbor MI * Patrick David Clark, Columbia MO * Michael-Thomas Foumai, Honolulu HI * Yotam Haber, New York NY * Clint Needham, Columbus OH * Steven Snowden, Austin TX * Liza White, Berkeley CA The…
April 21, 2011
Mizzou New Music Ensemble premieres “The Garden Symphony”
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble last Sunday traveled to the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis to take part in an event paying tribute to Peter Raven, director emeritus of the Garden. The Ensemble presented the world premiere performance of “The Garden Symphony,” a four-part work co-composed by Mizzou students Michael Anderson, Stephanie Berg, Laura Griggs, and David Witter, as well as a new piece for oboe and electronics composed in honor of Raven by MU professor W. Thomas McKenney. You can read more about it in this feature story written by Bob Duffy of the St.
April 19, 2011
C.O.M.P. winners make news
The announcement of the winners of this year’s Creating Original Music Project (C.O.M.P.) competition has prompted a flurry of press coverage around the state. In St. Louis, sisters Bella and Lilly Ibur have been the subjects of several news stories. They recently were featured on Show Me St. Louis, which airs weekday afternoons on local NBC affiliate KSDK (Channel 5), in a segment that also included Lilly performing her composition “Spinning.” The story was reported by KSDK’s Dana Hendrickson, and you can see it online here. Meanwhile, Lilly had a chance to perform her song…
March 30, 2011
Mizzou New Music Initiative in the media
While new posts here have been scarce of late, there’s been plenty of activity involving the Initiative, including this year’s C.O.M.P. competition and preparations for the 2011 Mizzou New Music Summer Festival. There also has been some media coverage this month of the Initiative and some of the people involved in it: * The St. Louis based cable channel HEC-TV featured the New Music Initiative in the March edition of its program State of The Arts. The report features footage of past C.O.M.P. winner Nick Funke, the Mizzou New Music Ensemble and Alarm Will Sound, as well as…
March 30, 2011
Missouri student composers win prizes in statewide music competition
The University of Missouri School of Music has announced that 28 elementary, middle school and high school students from across Missouri have been awarded prizes in the sixth annual Creating Original Music Project (C.O.M.P.) competition. C.O.M.P. is a joint venture of the University of Missouri School of Music and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation, which provides an annual gift of $50,000 to sponsor the competition. The program was created to encourage K-12 students in Missouri to write original musical works and to encourage performances of those works. The 2011 competition had the most submissions in the event’s six-year…
Dec. 2, 2010
New Music Ensemble to perform Monday, December 6 at Whitmore Recital Hall
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble (pictured) will present their second performance of the 2010-11 season at 8:00 p.m. Monday, December 6 at Whitmore Recital Hall on the University of Missouri campus. If you’re in Columbia or anywhere nearby, you’re invited to attend the concert, which is free and open to the public. The Ensemble is directed by Stefan Fruend, Associate Professor, Composition & Music Theory, and this season is their first full year of rehearsals and performances with a complete roster of musicians. All of us are delighted to have this talented group representing the Mizzou New Music…