July 11, 2013
Composers Festival Spotlight: David Witter
David Witter Today, let’s get acquainted with David Witter, another of the eight resident composers at this year’s Mizzou International Composers Festival. A native of Holt’s Summit, MO (near Jefferson City) and current resident of Columbia, Witter has studied composition with W. Thomas McKenney and Stefan Freund, earning his bachelor’s degree in music from Mizzou in 2010 and an M.M. degree in 2012. While working this past academic year toward his K-12 teaching certification, he was awarded the 2013 Sinquefield Composition Prize, resulting in a new commission to write a work for the University Philharmonic.
March 8, 2013
School of Music to begin streaming concerts online
Some of the new music being made at Mizzou will soon be heard all around the world in real time. Thanks to the efforts of College of Arts and Science IT director Mike Watson and recording engineer Rob Boullion, the School of Music now has a system in place that will allow for live audio streaming on the web of selected concerts presented by the University. The first concert to stream online will be the annual Chancellor’s Concert at 7:30 p.m. next Monday, March 11, featuring the world premiere of 2013 Sinquefield Composition Prize winner David Witter’s new…
Dec. 10, 2012
Mizzou International Composers Festival announces resident composers for 2013
Columbia, MO – After considering the largest number of applicants yet in the event’s four-year history, the University of Missouri School of Music and the Mizzou New Music Initiative today announced the eight resident composers selected for next year’s Mizzou International Composers Festival. Formerly known as the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival, the 2013 Mizzou International Composers Festival (MICF) will take place Monday, July 22 through Saturday, July 27 in Columbia. The resident composers were chosen through a portfolio application process that this year attracted 158 entries from across the USA and around the world, a…
Nov. 26, 2012
Mizzou New Music Ensemble to perform works by Cage, Kellogg, Gladney, and Strobel on Monday, December 3 at Whitmore Recital Hall
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble (pictured) will present the second concert of their 2012-13 season at 7:30 p.m., Monday, December 3 in Whitmore Recital Hall, 135 Fine Arts Building on the University of Missouri campus. Admission is free for Mizzou students, $5 suggested donation for the general public. The program will include two pieces written by Mizzou students; a performance incorporating several works by famed composer John Cage; and the second installment in the Ensemble’s ongoing examination of Daniel Kellogg’s extended work Divinum Mysterium. Synergetic Waveforms, written this year by University of Missouri freshman composition student Shaun Gladney,…
Oct. 29, 2012
David Witter wins 2013 Sinquefield Composition Prize
The University of Missouri School of Music and the Mizzou New Music Initiative are pleased to announce that David Witter is the winner of the 2013 Sinquefield Composition Prize. Witter, who holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in composition from Mizzou, submitted his piece “Garden Music” to the competition and was selected for the prize by a panel of independent judges. The adjudicators for the 2013 competition were: * Mara Gibson, director of the Community Music and Dance Academy and a member of the composition faculty at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance in Kansas City;…
June 27, 2011
The Sound of Art documents collaboration between composers, visual artists
The Mizzou New Music Initiative has released online three episodes of The Sound of Art, a series of short films documenting collaborative efforts between composers and visual artists. Now available for viewing on the Missouri New Music Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/moNEWmusic, the films cover the creation of three new compositions inspired by the summer 2010 exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and the premiere performances of those compositions at the Contemporary by the Mizzou New Music Ensemble. Episode 1 features an interview with composer David Witter, who wrote “Failure to Communicate” in response to artist…