
July 11, 2023
2023 Resident Composer Spotlight: Ali Can Puskulcu
Ali Can Puskulcu is one of eight Resident Composers selected for the 2023 Mizzou International Composers Festival from among 500 applicants, 28% of which are from outside the USA. He is a Turkish-American composer, violinist, and multimedia artist whose works include pieces for solo artists, sinfonietta, chamber ensembles, and chorus, as well as video art installations, improvisations, and live performances. Ali Can Puskulcu Recently, Puskulcu was awarded a Charles Ives Scholarship Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and ASCAP/SEAMUS Commission Competition. Other accolades include a Fromm Foundation Commission from Harvard University and a…

July 7, 2023
Guest Composer Spotlight: Marcos Balter
The Mizzou New Music Initiative is pleased to welcome Marcos Balter as a Guest Composer for the 2023 Mizzou International Composers Festival. As part of MICF, he will present his music and work closely with the resident composers through private lessons and a workshop. Alarm Will Sound will perform the world premiere of Balter’s Code-Switching on Thursday, July 27 at 7:30 p.m. in the Missouri Theatre. On Friday, July 28 at 7:30 p.m., the Mizzou New Music Ensemble will perform his work Ligare, along with music by Tania León, Kevin Day, and Santiago Beis. Whether he’s composing works for solo…

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…

Jan. 6, 2023
Mizzou International Composers Festival announces resident composers for 2023
The Mizzou New Music Initiative (MNMI) and Alarm Will Sound have selected eight resident composers to participate in the 2023 Mizzou International Composers Festival (MICF). Presented by the MNMI and the University of Missouri School of Music from Monday, July 24 through Saturday, July 29 in Columbia, the fourteenth annual MICF will feature world premieres of new works written by each of the selected composers. Listed with their current places of residence, they are: Santiago Beis (Columbia, MO) Trevor Van de Velde, (New York, NY) Ali Can Puskulcu (Marlborough, MA) Peter Fahey…