March 20, 2014
MICF resident composers in the news
Here’s the latest news and updates from some of the resident composers at past Mizzou International Composers Festivals: * Jeremy Podgursky, MICF 2010, is one of six winners this year of a Charles Ives scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The $7,500 scholarships are awarded to composition students of great promise, as selected by a committee of academy members including MICF 2010 guest composer Martin Bresnick, Joan Tower, Samuel Adler, Mario Davidovsky, John Harbison, Stephen Hartke, Tania León, and Tobias Picker. The Ives scholarships and the academy’s other awards in music will be presented at…
Jan. 24, 2014
Alarm Will Sound to perform free concert on Friday, February 7 at Missouri Theatre
Alarm Will Sound, the acclaimed chamber orchestra dedicated to contemporary classical music, is returning to Columbia to perform a concert at 7:30 p.m., Friday, February 7 at the Missouri Theatre. The group (pictured) has served since 2010 as the resident ensemble for the Mizzou International Composers Festival, which takes place each year in July, but this will be their first performance here during the regular academic year. The February 7 concert is presented by the Mizzou New Music Initiative and the University of Missouri School of Music, and is free and open to the…
Sep. 26, 2013
Fifth annual Mizzou International Composers Festival set for July 21-26, 2014
The Mizzou International Composers Festival (MICF) will celebrate its fifth year in 2014, and composers Beat Furrer and Nico Muhly will be among those attending the party. Furrer and Muhly have been named guest composers for the Mizzou New Music Initiative’s signature event, which will be held Monday, July 21 through Saturday, July 26 on the campus of the University of Missouri in Columbia. The 2014 MICF once again will present a series of public concerts featuring music from contemporary composers, as well as workshops, master classes and other events. As in years past, Saturday night’s grand finale at…
Aug. 2, 2013
Wrapping up the 2013 Mizzou International Composers Festival
The 2013 Mizzou International Composers Festival has come to a successful conclusion, but we’ve still got a few more Festival-related links to share with you: * The Festival’s Saturday night grand finale concert was named a “Best Bet” for the weekend by St. Louis Post-Dispatch classical music critic Sarah Bryan Miller. * Jeanne Sinquefield, whose Sinquefield Charitable Foundation provides funding for the Festival, was interviewed by KBIA, the NPR affiliate in Columbia, MO. Dr. Sinquefield’s interview with KBIA’s Trevor Harris is available online here. * Resident ensemble Alarm Will Sound has posted on…
July 12, 2013
Composers Festival Spotlight: Alarm Will Sound
Continuing with our series of posts focusing on various participants in the 2013 Mizzou International Composers Festival, today we catch up with the latest from Alarm Will Sound. As the resident ensemble for the Festival since it began in 2010, AWS plays a crucial role in bringing to life the new works created by the resident composers. Not many groups would be willing or able to take on the challenge of premiering eight new pieces in one night with limited rehearsal time, but Alarm Will Sound has accomplished the task each year of the MICF…
July 27, 2012
More Mizzou New Music Summer Festival press coverage
As the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival has progressed this week, we’ve seen some more coverage of the Festival in the press and online: * The Kansas City Star had a feature story about resident composer Stephanie Berg, who grew up in the KC suburb of Parkville. * The Columbia Daily Tribune‘s Art Axis blog published interviews that reporter Aarik Danielsen conducted with guest composers Donnacha Dennehy and Steven Stucky. * Violist Nadio Sirota, who’s a substitute player this week with the Festival’s resident ensemble Alarm Will Sound, has written about her…
July 25, 2012
Behind the scenes with Alarm Will Sound
Before the start of the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival, resident ensemble Alarm Will Sound spent a week rehearsing at the Sinquefield Reserve in mid-Missouri. While they did have time to pose for a photographic homage to George Seurat’s “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grand Jatte” (pictured), there was a lot of hard work, too, as you can see in these photo sets posted to AWS’ Facebook page: . Alarm Will Sound rehearsals, Day 1 Alarm Will Sound rehearsals, Day 2 Alarm Will Sound rehearsals, Day 3 Alarm Will Sound…
July 16, 2012
Mizzou New Music Summer Festival to include free events
In addition to the ticketed concerts at the Missouri Theatre, the 2012 Mizzou New Music Summer Festival includes a number of events that are free of charge and open to the public. At 4:00 p.m. on Monday, July 23, guest composer Steven Stucky will present a master class with the vocal ensemble Voices of Prometheus at McKee Auditorium on the MU Campus. Presentations by the Festival’s guest resident and faculty composers also will be open to the public. All the composer presentations will take place in the Fine Arts Building’s Room 145.