July 9, 2012

Patrick Clark – Day Eight: The Finish Line

The Finish Line: 9 July, 2012; Day Eight; Duhok, Iraq I am at the end of the eighth day of teaching composition, theory and music history with the American Voices YES Academy in Duhok, Iraq. I am most proud to report that seven of my ten composition students have crossed the finish line with completed…

July 8, 2012

Patrick Clark on Day Seven in Duhok, Iraq

Day Seven, American Voices YES Academy, Duhok, Iraq My composers have been moved by the spirit. Following yesterday’s reading of two student works by the String Orchestra, four of the remaining eight composers arrived in this morning’s class with beautifully finished scores and parts. I was caught off guard not expecting such a furious commitment…

July 7, 2012

Patrick Clark’s Observations & Fruit of Effort

Observations: 5 July, 2012; Day Five; Duhok, Iraq I'm in a mosaic of Turkish and Kurdish music, most of which I hear in the back of taxis. It would be terribly awful pop music to me if it didn't sound so exotic. Iraqi music videos are hysterically bad and remind me of American shampoo commercials.…

July 6, 2012

Summer Festival Spotlight: Steven Stucky

Guest composers play an important part at the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival, teaching and mentoring the resident composers, and we are most fortunate to have Steven Stucky as one of our guest composers for the 2012 MNMSF. Called by BMI "a towering figure in contemporary classical music," Stucky (pictured) perhaps is best known for…

July 3, 2012

Patrick Clark YES Academy Iraq Report

Day Three: Tuesday, July 3 - Duhok University, Iraq Today in composition class, my ten students and I listened to Claude Debussy’s Voiles from the first book of Préludes. “What is the scale that Debussy is using in…

July 2, 2012

Patrick David Clark reporting from Iraq

Orientation: Friday, June 29 -  Duhok, Iraq It is hot and dry in Duhok. I am in the Hotel Mondeal and a wedding celebration is taking place in the lobby below my room. Sounds and smells subtly spice the night air in northern Iraq. I had the pleasure of meeting two veteran students of the…

June 25, 2012

Patrick David Clark traveling to Iraq to teach composition

Composer and Mizzou graduate Patrick David Clark (pictured) will bring new music to an ancient city when he goes to Iraq at the end of this month. His mission: to teach composition to students in the northern Iraqi town of Erbil. “It’s a kind of cultural diplomacy,” said Clark,…

June 15, 2012

2012 Missouri Summer Composition Institute
to conclude with concert on Saturday, June 23

The Mizzou New Music Initiative’s Missouri Summer Composition Institute will wrap up this year’s session with a concert at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, June 23. The concert will take place at Whitmore Recital Hall in the Fine Arts Building on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia, and is free and open to the public. The…