Composers Festival spotlight: Shuying Li

Resident composer Shuying Li comes to the 2021 Mizzou International Composers Festival from Spokane, WA, where since 2020 she has served as assistant professor of composition and music theory at Gonzaga University. Yet her musical journey actually began years ago and much further away, at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in her native China. In…

Composers Festival spotlight: Paul Mortilla

When Paul Mortilla began his studies at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music in 2014, he already had more experience and training as a composer than most undergraduates. That's because Mortilla, a Florida native who is one of nine resident composers for the 2021 Mizzou International Composers Festival, actually began writing original music on his…

Composers Festival spotlight: Yu Kuwabara

The music of composer Yu Kuwabara explores connections between the personal and the traditional, the past and the present, and Japan and the rest of the world. One of the nine resident composers for the 2021 Mizzou International Composers Festival, Kuwabara (pictured) is from Tokyo, and completed her master's degree at Tokyo University of the…

Composers Festival spotlight: Ana Paola Santillán Alcocer

Resident composer Ana Paola Santillán Alcocer comes to the 2021 Mizzou International Composers Festival from Mexico City, Mexico. She earned her doctoral degree in composition from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where she was composer-in-residence for the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble and also worked with electronic media at the McGill Digital Composition Studios. Previously, she…

Springfield Symphony to perform Stefan Freund’s “Ragfare” in concerts on Saturday, May 8

The Springfield Symphony will perform "Ragfare," a work written by University of Missouri professor of composition Stefan Freund, in a pair of concerts on Saturday, May 8 at the Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts in Springfield, MO. Freund (pictured), who's also a cellist, conductor, and the artistic director of the Mizzou New…

Aaron Perrine to visit Mizzou for residency, concert

Composer Aaron Perrine is coming to the University of Missouri in February for a residency and concert featuring the premiere of a new commissioned work he wrote for the Mizzou Wind Ensemble. Perrine (pictured) will arrive in Columbia on Thursday, February 13. While he's on campus, he'll give lessons to composition students; make a presentation…

Amy Williams coming to Mizzou in October for residency and concert

Composer and pianist Amy Williams is coming to Mizzou next month for a residency and concert. Williams, who is an associate professor teaching composition and music theory at the University of Pittsburgh, will be on campus in Columbia on Wednesday, October 9 and Thursday, October 10. While she's at Mizzou, Williams (pictured) will make a…

Composers Festival spotlight: Donnacha Dennehy

Donnacha Dennehy returns to the Mizzou International Composers Festival in 2019 as a distinguished guest composer, having previously served in the same capacity in 2012, and thereby making MICF history by becoming the only composer to play that role twice. Considered one of Ireland’s top living composers, Dennehy (pictured) is a founder of the new…