Oct. 11, 2017
Missouri student composers are eligible for awards, cash prizes from Mizzou’s Creating Original Music Project (COMP)
While the tools for writing music have evolved over time – from pen, paper and piano to computers, samples and synthesizers – young composers today still face the same challenge they’ve had for hundreds of years: getting their music heard. That ‘s why the Mizzou New Music Initiative began the Creating Original Music Project (COMP). Now in its 13th year, COMP is an annual statewide competition that showcases new, original music from Missouri student composers and songwriters in grades K-12, offering positive recognition and prizes, performance and educational opportunities, and more. Sponsored by the University of Missouri School of…
Oct. 2, 2017
Aaron Mencher wins 2018 Sinquefield Composition Prize
The University of Missouri School of Music and the Mizzou New Music Initiative have awarded the 2018 Sinquefield Composition Prize to Aaron Mencher. Mencher (pictured) is a junior and Sinquefield Scholar at Mizzou, studying composition with Carolina Heredia. He submitted “Bluish Orange,” a work written for flute, clarinet, and saxophone, to the competition and was selected for the prize by a panel of independent judges. The adjudicators for the 2018 competition were Jennifer Jolley, assistant professor of composition at Ohio Wesleyan University; LJ White, lecturer in composition at Washington University; and Yoshiaki Onishi, a freelance composer in Columbia, MO.
Sep. 27, 2017
Composer Steven Snowden visiting Mizzou for residency from October 1-3
Composer Steven Snowden will visit the Mizzou campus next week for a residency starting Sunday, October 1 and culminating in a “Composer Portrait” concert of his works at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 3 at Whitmore Recital Hall. The concert will include Mizzou faculty ensemble DRAX performing the world premieres of “Where are Our Mothers” and “We Don’t Have Enough Time,” two new works commissioned from Snowden with support from the Mizzou New Music Initiative and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. While on campus, Snowden (pictured) also will give a presentation to composition students about his music, and…
Sep. 26, 2017
Mizzou New Music Ensemble playing works by Mizzou composers past and present on Monday, October 16 at Whitmore Recital Hall
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble‘s first concert of the 2017-18 season will feature music from two Mizzou alumni, one new faculty member, and more. The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. Monday, October 16 at Whitmore Recital Hall on the Mizzou campus. Admission is $5 for the general public, free for Mizzou faculty, students and staff with ID. Works to be performed will include “Lus in Bello” by Carolina Heredia, who this fall joined the University of Missouri faculty as the Mizzou New Music Initiative’s new postdoctoral fellow. Heredia first composed the piece in 2014 for the…
Sep. 21, 2017
Missouri Composers Project (MOCOP) looking for new orchestral, choral works for concert in March 2018
While writing music may be a solitary activity, composers of new music for orchestra or chorus ultimately need the help of many others to bring their works to life in concert. That’s why the Missouri Composers Project (MOCOP) once again in 2018 will offer performance opportunities for new, large-ensemble music written by Missouri residents. Now in its eighth year, MOCOP is a collaborative effort involving the Mizzou New Music Initiative, the Columbia Civic Orchestra (CCO) (pictured), the Columbia Chamber Choir, and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. Each year, recently composed works are selected through a competitive, blind…
Aug. 31, 2017
Mizzou faculty ensemble ZouM to perform Friday, September 8 in Columbia and Saturday, September 9 in St. Louis
The Mizzou faculty collective ZouM will showcase new music from six living composers with performances next weekend in Columbia and St. Louis. They’ll play at 7:30 p.m. Friday, September 8 at Whitmore Recital Hall on the MU campus, then travel to St. Louis for a concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, September 9 at Washington University’s 560 Music Center. Admission to the concert in Columbia is $5 for the general public, free to Mizzou students, staff and faculty with ID. The St. Louis concert is free and open to the public. In all, fifteen Mizzou faculty members (plus one guest…
Aug. 22, 2017
St. Louis Symphony musicians to read works by Mizzou composers
Three student composers from the University of Missouri School of Music will get a chance this academic year to have their orchestral works read, critiqued, and then played again by musicians from the St. Louis Symphony. Under the auspices of the Mizzou New Music Initiative, student composers Dustin Dunn, Aaron Mencher, and Douglas Osmun (pictured) are writing new works for a 40-piece chamber orchestra, which will be read and played by members of the Symphony in a private session this November in St. Louis. The composers then will get a chance to revise their works…
July 24, 2017
Composers Festival spotlight: Georg Friedrich Haas
Georg Friedrich Haas, one of the two distinguished guest composers at the 2017 Mizzou International Composers Festival, is known and respected internationally as one of the major European composers of his generation. Considered to be a leading exponent of “spectral music” and sometimes compared to György Ligeti for his use of microtonality, Haas has lectured and taught courses on the subject, but also has said he’s uncomfortable being pigeonholed, noting simply that, “I am a composer, not a microtonalist.” As a distinguished guest composer for the MICF, Haas (pictured) will work with the eight resident composers…