July 20, 2019
Composers Festival spotlight: Charles Halka
Resident composer Charles Halka comes to the 2019 Mizzou International Composers Festival having already done a good deal of world traveling in his composing and teaching career. Originally from Tulsa, OK, Halka (pictured) currently is an assistant professor of composition and theory at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. He earned a doctor of musical arts degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston, TX, and holds degrees in both piano and composition from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD. Overseas, he also has studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory…
July 19, 2019
Composers Festival spotlight: Amy Beth Kirsten
Amy Beth Kirsten occupies a unique place in Mizzou International Composers Festival history, returning in 2019 as a distinguished guest composer after having been one of the eight resident composers at the very first MICF (then called the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival) in 2010. Kirsten is the only composer to take part in the festival in both capacities, and to celebrate her return, the 2019 MICF will feature the world premiere of excerpts from a major new composition of hers. Selected parts of “Jacob in Chains,” an evening-length, music-driven theatrical work commissioned by Alarm Will Sound and…
July 18, 2019
Composers Festival spotlight: inti figgis-vizueta
Resident composer inti figgis-vizueta this year will achieve an historic trifecta of sorts in the annals of the Mizzou International Composers Festival, as they will be the first resident composer to have three of their works played by three different ensembles in a single year at the MICF. Like the seven other resident composers, figgis-vizueta (pictured) has written a new piece for Alarm Will Sound, who will perform their “braiding on golden stoops” as one of the eight world premieres presented in the grand finale concert on Saturday, July 27 at the Missouri Theatre. In addition, Mizzou…
July 18, 2019
Composers Festival spotlight: Chelsea Komschlies
Fittingly for an international festival located in the heartland of the USA, 2019 MICF resident composer Chelsea Komschlies is a native Midwesterner whose music has been performed in eleven countries on four continents around the world. The daughter of an artist, Komschlies grew up in Appleton, WI creating and loving all sorts of visual art, and still enjoys drawing, digital painting, and creating hand-sculpted jewelry. She often uses real or imagined images as inspiration for her works, hoping that listeners will “make deep, instinctual associations with her music, be they emotional, visual, or otherwise abstract.” She recently…
July 17, 2019
Composers Festival spotlight: Bels Lontano
For the tenth year of the Mizzou International Composers Festival, the Mizzou New Music Initiative has added a number of new events, including teaming up with Columbia-based experimental music organization Dismal Niche to present two free late-night concerts on Thursday, July 25 and Friday, July 26 after the performances at the Missouri Theatre. The performance at 9:30 p.m. Thursday, July 25 at Cafe Berlin will feature Bels Lontano curating a program of electronic music including works from MICF resident composers and from current and former students at Mizzou, as well as his own music. Influenced…
July 16, 2019
Composers Festival spotlight: Peter Shin
For resident composer Peter Shin, the 2019 Mizzou International Composers Festival is more than just the chance to write a new work for the festival’s resident ensemble Alarm Will Sound. It’s also an opportunity to pay a visit to, and have his work performed in, his home state, for Shin originally is from Kansas City, MO, just a couple of hours west on I-70. He recently has been splitting his time between coasts, studying for his master of musical arts degree at the Yale School of Music in New Haven, CT while also serving as a composer…
July 13, 2019
Composers Festival spotlight: Kristina Wolfe
2019 MICF resident composer Kristina Wolfe describes herself as “a composer, wanderer, electronic musician, maker, and multi-instrumentalist.” A native of Tampa, FL, Wolfe (pictured) currently is a composer and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Scholar working in sound archaeology exhibition and composition at the University of Huddersfield in the UK. She earned her PhD in multimedia and electronic music experiments from Brown University in 2016, having previously completed an MA in digital music at Dartmouth College and a BA in music technology at Florida International University. For the MICF, Wolfe has composed a new work titled “A…
July 10, 2019
Composers Festival spotlight: Aaron Mencher
Resident composer Aaron Mencher is representing the University of Missouri at this year’s Mizzou International Composers Festival. Originally from Atlanta, GA, Mencher (pictured) received his bachelor’s degree in music from Mizzou this year, and in the fall will begin studies for a master’s in music at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, MD. For the MICF, he’s written a piece titled “Haworthia,” which will be performed by Alarm Will Sound along with new music from the seven other resident composers as part of the festival’s grand finale on Saturday, July 27 at the Missouri Theatre. While at…