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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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,…

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…

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,…