March 3, 2016
Mizzou New Music Ensemble to perform works by four award-winning composers Tuesday, March 22 at Whitmore Recital Hall
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble will play works from four award-winning composers in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 22 at Whitmore Recital Hall on the University of Missouri campus. Admission is free for Mizzou students, faculty and staff with ID, $5 for the general public. The program will include two pieces from composers visiting Mizzou this year and two from undergraduate students majoring in composition at the university. “Rhapsodies” by David Liptak is a three-movement work from 1992 that showcases contrasting timbral colors in the ensemble. Liptak, a composition professor at the Eastman School of Music…
Feb. 16, 2016
Deviant Septet to present world premiere of David Liptak’s “Focusing” in concert Friday, February 26 at Whitmore Recital Hall
The new music group Deviant Septet will present the world premiere of “Focusing,” a new work by composer David Liptak, as part of their concert at 7:30 p.m., Friday, February 26 at Whitmore Recital Hall, 151 Fine Arts Building on the University of Missouri campus. Admission is free and open to the public. The performance will be the final event of simultaneous residencies that week at Mizzou for Liptak and Deviant Septet (pictured), with the premiere of “Focusing” representing the culmination of a three-year process that began in 2013 with a commissioning grant from the…
Feb. 10, 2016
Missouri Composers Orchestra Project selects six works for concert on March 20
For many young composers, writing for orchestra or chorus represents a significant pinnacle of achievement, offering artistic satisfaction and enhancing credibility and career opportunities. Reaching that pinnacle, however, also requires getting that new, large ensemble work played in public, which is not always an easy task when resources are scarce and many music directors tend to rely on familiar favorites. Now, six up-and-coming composers are getting a boost from the Missouri Composers Orchestra Project (MOCOP), as their orchestral and choral works will be performed by the Columbia Civic Orchestra (CCO) and the Columbia Chamber Choir at a…
Jan. 21, 2016
Ben Colagiovanni wins “Young Artist” award
in MTNA national composition competition
The University of Missouri’s Ben Colagiovanni is the national winner of the “Young Artist” award in this year’s Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) composition competition. Colagiovanni (pictured) currently is a senior at Mizzou pursuing a bachelor’s degree in music composition. He was recognized for “Forest Park Rhapsody,” one of four works originally commissioned in 2014 by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation for the Mizzou New Music Ensemble to perform at an event for Forest Park Forever’s Leffingwell Society. As a winner of the competition, Colagiovanni will receive a first place prize of $3,000, and “Forest Park Rhapsody”…
Jan. 18, 2016
Mizzou International Composers Festival announces resident composers for 2016
The Mizzou New Music Initiative (MNMI) has selected eight resident composers to participate in the 2016 Mizzou International Composers Festival (MICF). Presented annually since 2010 by MNMI and the University of Missouri School of Music, the MICF in just six years has become the Midwest’s top summer showcase for intriguing new music by composers from around the world. The seventh edition of the festival, scheduled for Monday, July 25 through Saturday, July 30 in Columbia, will feature world premieres of eight new works written by this year’s selected composers. Listed with their current places of residence, they…
Jan. 8, 2016
Hear new music from the Mizzou International Composers Festival
As we anticipate the announcement later this month of the eight resident composers for the 2016 Mizzou International Composers Festival, the interval also provides an opportunity for MNMI to share for the first time some music from the 2015 MICF. For starters, you can use the embedded audio player below to stream “virgin soil,” which was written by 2015 resident composer Conrad Winslow (pictured, upper left) and given a world premiere performance by Alarm Will Sound as part of the grand finale of last summer’s MICF: And here’s Alarm Will Sound performing the world…
Jan. 7, 2016
José Martínez selected by Third Coast Percussion
for 2016-17 Emerging Composers Partnership
Mizzou graduate student José Martínez has been selected by Third Coast Percussion to take part in their Emerging Composers Partnership for the 2016-17 season. The Chicago-based ensemble chose Martínez (pictured) and Princeton graduate student Annika K. Socolofsky from among 99 applicants this year for the partnership program, which now is entering its third season. Both composers will take part in a series of collaborative workshops in Chicago and create new works for Third Coast Percussion, which then will be premiered as part of the ensemble’s hometown concert series. Each composer also will receive an honorarium and a…
Dec. 23, 2015
2016 Mizzou International Composers Festival
gets applications from 18 countries
The numbers have been tallied, and the 2016 Mizzou International Composers Festival (MICF) has received submissions from a total of 229 individuals hoping to be among the fest’s eight resident composers, including 129 who applied for the first time. The 2016 MICF will take place from Monday, July 25 through Saturday, July 30 in Columbia. Resident composer submissions were received from a total of 18 different countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Each resident…