July 19, 2012
Summer Festival Spotlight: Asha Srinivasan
Born in Utah and brought up in India and the USA, Asha Srinivasan creates music that combines elements from two different cultures. An assistant professor of music at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, Srinivasan (pictured) is one of eight resident composers for the 2012 Mizzou New Music Summer Festival. She is part of an musical extended family – her mother Lalitha is a professional singer of Indian film songs – and began taking voice lessons at age 6, learning the classical music of Southern India. As a adult composer blending Indian Carnatic ragas with…
July 18, 2012
Summer Festival Spotlight: Patrick Harlin
Resident composer Patrick Harlin comes to the 2012 Mizzou New Music Summer Festival from Ann Arbor, where he currently is working toward a doctoral degree in music composition from the University of Michigan. Born in Salt Lake City and raised in Seattle, Harlin (pictured) has been composing and playing piano since age 8. He earned his undergraduate degree at Western Washington University, where he received the Ford Hill Piano Scholarship, the Western Washington Piano Department scholarship, and many other awards. Harlin then moved to Ann Arbor to study for his Master’s degree, which he completed last year. Though…
July 18, 2012
Summer Festival Spotlight: Brian Ciach
A skilled pianist as well as a composer, Brian Ciach has created a wide variety of original music, from solo piano pieces to orchestral works to electronic music. As one of the resident composers for the 2102 Mizzou New Music Summer Festival, Ciach (pronounced “SIGH-ack”) has written a new piece for Alarm Will Sound called The Einstein Slide. Inspired by a slice of Albert Einstein’s brain displayed in the Mütter Museum in Ciach’s home town of Philadelphia, the new work is puckishly termed “an appendix” to Collective Uncommon: Seven Orchestral Studies on Medical Oddities, which Ciach…
July 17, 2012
Patrick Clark on the YES Academy Concerts: 11 July 2012–Composers; Duhok, Iraq
Assuming the reaction of an audience is a barometer of the success of a concert, the closing concerts for the YES Academy 2012 in Duhok hit their intended marks quite well. As the inaugural composition teacher for the Academy I had a vested interest in the concert of works by the student composers and so it will be my main focus here. One might have done well to bring earplugs to this concert, but not because the music was so loud. Rather because the applause was overwhelming. Of course the whistles of support by students are the most deadly of…
July 16, 2012
Summer Festival Spotlight: Donnacha Dennehy
It is a privilege and a pleasure to have Donnacha Dennehy as one of the guest composers for the 2012 Mizzou New Music Summer Festival. Along with fellow guest composer Steven Stucky, Dennehy will instruct and mentor the Festival’s eight resident composers during their week in Columbia. He’ll also oversee the world premiere of the first part of The Hunger, a large work-in-progress that will be performed by resident ensemble Alarm Will Sound and the Festival’s guest artist, soprano Anne-Carolyn Bird, as part of the concert on Thursday, July 26. Born in 1970 in Dublin, Dennehy is…
July 13, 2012
Summer Festival Spotlight: David Crowell
While some of the resident composers for the 2012 Mizzou New Music Summer Festival are recent graduates or still studying for advanced degrees, saxophonist and composer David Crowell already is well along in his professional career. He has a very active schedule as a performer, touring with the famed Philip Glass Ensemble and leading his own band, and his compositions have been performed frequently in New York City and by various student and professional ensembles across the US. In fact, Crowell (pictured) will have two major performances of his works on the same night this month. On Saturday,…
July 12, 2012
Summer Festival Spotlight: Stephanie Berg
Today, let’s get acquainted with one of the resident composers for the 2012 Mizzou New Music Summer Festival, Stephanie Berg. She’s one of eight individuals to earn that designation this year, chosen from nearly 150 applicants from countries around the world, including Israel, France, Ireland, Spain, South Africa, Russia, England, Thailand, Canada and China. As a Missouri native and Mizzou graduate, Berg (pictured) is something of a local favorite at this year’s Festival. She grew up in the Kansas City suburb of Parkville, graduating from Park Hill South High School, and earned her Bachelor of Music degree…
July 12, 2012
Summer Festival Spotlight: Alarm Will Sound
Continuing with our series of posts focusing on various participants in the 2012 Mizzou New Music Summer Festival, today we shine out spotlight on Alarm Will Sound. As the resident ensemble for the Festival, AWS plays an essential role in bringing to life the new works created by the resident composers. Not many groups would be willing or able to take on the challenge of premiering eight new pieces in one night with limited rehearsal time, but Alarm Will Sound has accomplished the task each year of the MNMSF with consummate skill and panache. Former in 2001 by…