Nov. 30, 2016
Mizzou composer Douglas Osmun featured in Columbia Missourian
Mizzou composer Douglas Osmun, a first-year graduate student in composition and the winner of the 2017 Sinquefield Composition Prize, was the subject of a feature story this week in the Columbia Missourian. Osmun (pictured) talked with reporter Ann Marion about his composition process and about “First Fig,” the work he submitted in this year’s Sinquefield Prize competition. As the winner of the competition, Osman was commissioned to write a new work for the University Philharmonic, which will get a premiere performance in April at the annual Chancellor’s Arts Showcase at the Missouri Theatre. You can read the whole story…
Nov. 21, 2016
Mizzou New Music Ensemble presenting four world premieres and more in concert Sunday, December 4 at Whitmore Recital Hall
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble will present four world premieres and more in the second concert of their 2016-17 season at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, December 4 at Whitmore Recital Hall on the University of Missouri campus. General admission is $5 for the public, free for Mizzou faculty, students and staff. Three of those premieres were written by Mizzou students, including “The Garden of Earthly Delights” by Adam Cohen, a freshman composition major and Sinquefield Scholar. Inspired by Heironymous Bosch’s famous triptych painting, the piece juxtaposes surrealistic sounds against each other both rhythmically and melodically to evoke an aural whimsy.
Nov. 15, 2016
Mizzou composer’s work to be performed at SCI conference
The Society of Composers, Inc (SCI) has selected a work by Mizzou’s Douglas Osmun for performance at their annual national conference next year. Osmun’s “First Fig,” a work for voice, cello, and piano that incorporates text by Edna St. Vincent Millay, will be performed on Friday, March 31 at the SCI event, which will take place March 30 through April 1 at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI. Osmun (pictured) is a first-year graduate student in composition and winner of the 2017 Sinquefield Composition Prize. He’s also an alumnus of Western Michigan, having earned…
Oct. 28, 2016
Dustin Dunn wins MTNA’s 2016 statewide composition competition
University of Missouri composition student Dustin Dunn has won this year’s award in the “Young Artist” category of the Missouri state division of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) composition competition. Dunn, a junior working on a bachelor’s degree in music composition at Mizzou, was recognized for “Of Stained Glass and Hymnody,” which was premiered in March 2016 by the Mizzou New Music Ensemble. He’s the third Mizzou student in a row to win the statewide MTNA award, following Ben Colagiovanni last year and Trey Makler in 2014. “Of Stained Glass and Hymnody” now will be entered…
Oct. 26, 2016
Creating Original Music Project (COMP) offers awards, cash prizes for original music from Missouri student composers
From school bands to adjudicated contests, young musicians today have many outlets to demonstrate their instrumental prowess. For young composers, the opportunities to show their talents can be much harder to find, which is why the Mizzou New Music Initiative began the Creating Original Music Project (COMP). Now in its twelfth year, COMP is an annual statewide competition that showcases new, original music from Missouri student composers and songwriters in grades K-12, offering positive recognition and prizes, performance and educational opportunities, and more. Sponsored by the University of Missouri School of Music and the Sinquefield Charitable…
Oct. 10, 2016
2017 Mizzou International Composers Festival set for July 24 – 29; applications for eight resident composers now open
The Mizzou New Music Initiative is now accepting applications for eight resident composers to take part in the 2017 Mizzou International Composers Festival (MICF), which will be held Monday, July 24 through Saturday, July 29 on the campus of the University of Missouri in Columbia. Georg Friedrich Haas and Dan Visconti will serve as the distinguished guest composers for the 2017 MICF, which will include three public concerts of contemporary music as well as workshops, master classes and other events. As in years past, Saturday night’s grand finale at the Missouri Theatre will feature the world premieres…
Oct. 3, 2016
Mizzou composer Douglas Osmun wins 2017 Sinquefield Composition Prize
The University of Missouri School of Music and the Mizzou New Music Initiative have awarded the 2017 Sinquefield Composition Prize to Douglas Osmun. Osmun, who grew up in Zeeland, MI, is a first-year graduate student at Mizzou studying composition with Stefan Freund. He submitted “First Fig,” a work written for alto voice, cello and piano, to the competition and was selected for the prize by a panel of independent judges. The adjudicators for the 2017 competition were: * Lee Hartman, instructor in music and music theory, University of Central Missouri; * Allison Ogden, lecturer in composition, University…
Sep. 27, 2016
Aaron Mencher wins Boston New Music Initiative Young Composers Competition
Mizzou composer Aaron Mencher has won this year’s Boston New Music Initiative Young Composers Competition with his work “Uncertainly Yours,” which will be performed by the Boston New Music Initiative ensemble in a concert on November 4 at The Record Company in Boston. Mencher (pictured) is a sophomore composition major and Sinquefield Scholar from John’s Creek, GA, a suburb of Atlanta. He’s now the second Mizzou student to win BNMI’s Young Composers Competition, as Trey Makler was last year’s winner for his musical setting of poet Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Die Sonette an Orpheus.”…