July 19, 2013
Composers Festival Spotlight: Daniel Kellogg
The Mizzou New Music Initiative is pleased to welcome Daniel Kellogg as one of the two guest composers for the 2013 Mizzou International Composers Festival. Kellogg originally is from Wilton, CT and has served since 2005 as assistant professor of composition at the University of Colorado, He has been lauded by the Washington Post as “one of the most exciting composers around – technically assured, fascinated by unusual sonic textures, unfailingly easy to listen to, yet far from simplistic.” After graduating from the Curtis Institute of Music, Kellogg earned a masters of music…
July 18, 2013
Composers Festival Spotlight: Ryan Chase
Ryan Chase Before being selected as one of the resident composers for the 2013 Mizzou International Composers Festival, Ryan Chase has had his music performed “in venues ranging from dive bars to Carnegie Hall.” A native of Albany, NY, Chase earned a bachelor’s degree from the Mannes College of Music in 2008 and a masters degree from Indiana University in 2010. He currently is pursuing a doctorate at Indiana, where he also teaches undergraduate courses in post-tonal ear training and theory. With conductor Ben Bolter and composer Jeremy Podgursky (who was a resident composer at the…
July 18, 2013
Composers Festival Spotlight: Wei-Chieh Lin
Wei-Chieh LinToday’s featured resident composer from the 2013 Mizzou International Composers Festival is Wei-Chieh Lin, who was born in Taichung, Taiwan, and now lives in New York City. Lin earned his BM, MM, and DMA degrees in composition at The Juilliard School under the guidance of famed composer and teacher, the late Milton Babbitt. His works range from solo instrumental music to orchestral compositions to vocal and choral pieces, as well as jazz and folk arrangements. Those works have been performed at venues in the U.S. and abroad, including the Gaudeamus Muziekweek, Centre Pompidou, Lincoln…
July 17, 2013
Composers Festival Spotlight: Andrew Davis
Andrew Davis Continuing with our series on the resident composers for the 2013 Mizzou International Composers Festival, today let’s get acquainted with Andrew Davis. Though he shares a name with a famous British conductor, this Andrew Davis is a composer and electric guitarist from Columbia, MD by way of Texas. He earned a B.A. in music from Yale University in 2009, and then in 2012 completed his M.M. in composition at the University of Texas at Austin. Davis’ early experiences in music included playing trombone in concert bands and guitar in rock bands, which have…
July 16, 2013
Composers Festival Spotlight: Eric Guinivan
Eric Guinivan Today, we train our virtual spotlight on Eric Guinivan, a percussionist and composer who’s another of the eight resident composers at the 2013 Mizzou International Composers Festival. A native of Wilmington, Delaware, Guinivan earned bachelor’s degrees in composition and percussion performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He then relocated to Los Angeles, receiving a master’s degree and, in 2011, a D.M.A. in composition from the University Of Southern California Thornton School Of Music. Most recently, he has relocated across the country once again, as in June of this year…
July 15, 2013
Composers Festival Spotlight: Augusta Read Thomas
Augusta Read Thomas It is a pleasure for everyone associated with the Mizzou New Music Intiative to welcome Augusta Read Thomas as one of the guest composers for the 2013 Mizzou International Composers Festival. Thomas, 49, is University Professor of composition at the University of Chicago, and is only the 16th person ever to hold the title of University Professor. She was composer-in-residence for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from May 1997 through June 2006, a residency that culminated in the premiere of Astral Canticle, one of two finalists for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in Music. One…
July 15, 2013
Composers Festival Spotlight: Greg Simon
Greg SimonWe start the week with a look at another of the resident composers for the 2013 Mizzou International Composers Festival. Greg Simon holds a B.A. from the University of Puget Sound and an M.M. from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and currently is pursuing a doctorate at the University of Michigan. Before arriving in Michigan, he served on the faculty at the Metropolitan State University of Denver. Simon has studied composition with Kristin Kuster, Carter Pann, Daniel Kellogg, and Robert Hutchinson; and with Kevin Puts and Robert Aldridge at the Brevard Music Institute, where he…
July 11, 2013
Composers Festival Spotlight: David Witter
David Witter Today, let’s get acquainted with David Witter, another of the eight resident composers at this year’s Mizzou International Composers Festival. A native of Holt’s Summit, MO (near Jefferson City) and current resident of Columbia, Witter has studied composition with W. Thomas McKenney and Stefan Freund, earning his bachelor’s degree in music from Mizzou in 2010 and an M.M. degree in 2012. While working this past academic year toward his K-12 teaching certification, he was awarded the 2013 Sinquefield Composition Prize, resulting in a new commission to write a work for the University Philharmonic.