July 7, 2023
Guest Composer Spotlight: Tania León
The Mizzou New Music Initiative is pleased to welcome Kennedy Center Honors recipient and Pulitzer Prize winner Tania León as a Guest Composer for the 2023 Mizzou International Composers Festival. As part of MICF, she will present her music and work closely with the resident composers through private lessons and a workshop. León’s music will also be featured in two concerts. On Thursday, July 27 at 7:30 p.m. in the Missouri Theatre, Alarm Will Sound will perform a new arrangement of Tania Leon’s Toque, which John Orfe arranged to become Gran Toque. For the second concert, the Mizzou New Music Ensemble…
July 5, 2023
2023 Resident Composer Spotlight: Sophie Mathieu
Sophie Mathieu is one of eight Resident Composers selected for the 2023 Mizzou International Composers Festival from among 500 applicants, 28% from outside USA representing 49 countries. Sophie Mathieu is a composer and cellist based in Austin, TX, currently pursuing a master’s degree in composition at the University of Texas. Sophie completed her undergraduate studies in composition at the University of Southern California. She currently studies with Omar Thomas, and her previous teachers include Ted Hearne, Andrew Norman, Donald Crockett, Yevgeniy Sharlat, and Russell Podgorsek. Mathieu’s work is ethereal and…
July 5, 2023
2023 Resident Composer Spotlight: Peter Fahey
Peter Fahey is one of the eight Resident Composers selected for the 2023 Mizzou International Composers Festival from among 500 applicants, 28% from outside USA, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, and Brazil. Peter Fahey writes experimental music for classical instruments, sometimes with electronics. He has been described as a composer of “alluring soundscapes” and “arresting moments” (The New York Times) and “a composer who is full of effective ideas” (The Journal of Music). His music has been performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall and the National Concert Hall…
June 30, 2023
2023 Resident Composer Spotlight: Max Vinetz
Max Vinetz is one of eight Resident Composers selected for the 2023 Mizzou International Composers Festival from among 500 applicants, 28% from outside USA, namely the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, and Brazil. Vinetz is an American composer whose music draws inspiration from various intersections between improvisatory, popular, and classical forms and aesthetics. His recent and upcoming works address grief, the impact of media on rhetorical structures in music and our daily lives, and structures that circumvent linear narratives. Vinetz is a two-time recipient of ASCAP’s Morton Gould Award, a…
June 30, 2023
2023 Resident Composer Spotlight: Chen Yihan
Chen Yihan is one of eight Resident Composers selected for the 2023 Mizzou International Composers Festival from among 500 applicants, 28% from outside USA representing 49 countries. Chen Yihan, a native of Changzhou, China, is a composer and pianist based in Princeton, NJ. His music has been performed by orchestras and ensembles including the China Philharmonic Orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra, China National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of the China National Opera House, American Composers Orchestra, Juilliard Orchestra, and Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, among others. Renowned artists…
April 18, 2023
Mizzou New Music Initiative announces winners in the 2023 Creating Original Music Project Competition
April 19, 2023 The winning composers in the 2023 Creating Original Music Project (COMP) have been announced by the Mizzou New Music Initiative. Now in its 18th year, COMP is an annual statewide competition sponsored by the University of Missouri School of Music and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. COMP showcases new, original music from Missouri student composers and songwriters in grades K-12, offering positive recognition, prizes, performances, educational opportunities, and more. For the competition, students in grades K-5 submit compositions in two categories, Songs With Words and Instrumental. For grades 6-8, the categories are Fine Art Music and Popular…
March 7, 2023
Mizzou music students’ works performed by St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
Last Wednesday, three University of Missouri School of Music students found out what it is like to have their work performed by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at Powell Hall. For seniors Sam Whitty and Jack Snelling and graduate student Santiago Beis, the concert was the culmination of a process that began last year when they were selected to participate in the annual composer’s workshop which is a collaboration between the SLSO and the Mizzou New Music Initiative and is funded by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. Next was a session last fall in which…
Jan. 31, 2023
Works by Missouri Composers Project winners to be performed by Columbia Civic Orchestra, Columbia Chamber Choir in Sunday, April 16 concert
The Columbia Civic Orchestra (CCO) and the Columbia Chamber Choir will perform the winning works from the 2023 Missouri Composers Project (MOCOP) competition in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 16 at First Baptist Church, 1112 E. Broadway in Columbia. Admission to the concert is free and open to the public. Now in its eleventh year, MOCOP is a collaborative effort involving the Mizzou New Music Initiative, the Columbia Civic Orchestra, the Choral Arts Alliance of Missouri, and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. Composers from all over Missouri…