April 18, 2019
Mizzou New Music Ensemble to debut “Influences Symphony” with performances in St. Louis and Columbia
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble will explore the influence of various styles of music created in Missouri with performances in Columbia and St. Louis of “Influences Symphony,” a new collaborative, multi-part work by four Mizzou student composers. “Influences Symphony” will be premiered in a concert at 7:00 p.m. Friday, May 3 at the World Chess Hall of Fame, 4652 Maryland Ave. in St. Louis, with an encore performance at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, May 5 at Whitmore Recital Hall on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia. The concert in Columbia is free and open to the public. General admission…
Feb. 14, 2019
Mizzou New Music Ensemble to perform works by Socolofsky, Kirsten, Dennehy, Christensen and Forte on Sunday, February 24 at Whitmore Recital Hall
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble will perform works by three visiting composers plus two world premieres by Mizzou students in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, February 24 at Whitmore Recital Hall, 135 Fine Arts Building on the Mizzou campus. Admission is free and open to the public. The program will feature “Don’t say a word,” a “feminist rager-lullaby” by Annika Socolofsky from 2017 that “invokes the fragility and fury of the female voice.” Socolofsky, a composer and singer who is a doctoral candidate and fellow in composition at Princeton University, will be visiting Mizzou for a residency that…
Nov. 16, 2018
Fall 2018 Student Composers Recital set for Monday, November 26 at Whitmore Recital Hall
The Fall 2018 edition of the University of Missouri School of Music’s Student Composers Recital will present new works written and performed by students at 7:30 p.m. Monday, November 26 at Whitmore Recital Hall on the Mizzou campus. Admission is free and open to the public. The program will include: “The Wooden Playground” by Nathan Andrzejewski “Numbers” by Mikkel Christensen “The Struggle of a Painter” by Zach Davis “When Icarus fell it was Spring” by Aaron Mencher “Duck Your Modernism” by Niko Schroeder “The Exquisites” by Emily Shaw “Stream of Consciousness” by…
Nov. 14, 2018
Mizzou composers’ collaboration with St. Louis Symphony featured on HEC-TV’s “State of the Arts”
The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s reading of new works by Mizzou composers is the subject of a feature story on the latest episode of HEC-TV’s program “State of the Arts.” The feature by reporter Paul Schankman includes an exclusive look at the private reading session held on Wednesday, October 31 at Powell Hall in St. Louis, as well as interviews with composers Mikkel Christensen, Ben Colagiovanni, and Libby Roberts, MNMI artistic director and Mizzou professor of composition Stefan Freund, and SLSO resident conductor Gemma New. You can watch the story in the embedded video window below. HEC-TV is…
Sep. 4, 2018
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra to read works by Mizzou composers Mikkel Christensen, Ben Colagiovanni, and Libby Roberts
From left: Colagiovanni, Roberts, Christensen Three University of Missouri student composers will have their works played this year by musicians with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as part of a joint educational venture between the orchestra and the Mizzou New Music Initiative. Student composers Mikkel Christensen, Ben Colagiovanni, and Libby Roberts were selected by SLSO Resident Conductor Gemma New to write new works for a 40-piece chamber orchestra drawn from the musicians of the St. Louis Symphony. The three works will be read, played and critiqued in a private session on Wednesday, October 31 in St. Louis. The composers…
April 16, 2018
Mizzou New Music Ensemble to debut “Innovation Symphony” with performances in Columbia and St. Louis
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble will celebrate the spirit of creativity in technology and the arts with performances in Columbia and St. Louis of “Innovation Symphony,” a new collaborative, multi-part work by four Mizzou student composers. “Innovation Symphony” will be previewed in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 23 at Whitmore Recital Hall on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia. The work’s official premiere will be presented by Venture Cafe St. Louis at 8:00 p.m. Saturday, April 28 at the Cortex Innovation Community‘s @4240 building, located at 4240 Duncan Ave. in St. Louis. The concert…
Jan. 9, 2018
Mikkel Christensen wins grand prize in ShoutHouse call for scores
Mizzou’s Mikkel Christensen has won the grand prize in a worldwide open call for scores from the ensemble ShoutHouse in New York City. Christensen (pictured) is in his first year of work toward a master’s degree in composition at Mizzou, studying with Stefan Freund. A native of Lockhart, TX, he earned his undergraduate degree in music and technology at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ. Formed in 2012, ShoutHouse is a 14-member chamber orchestra of classical, hip-hop, and jazz musicians that describes their style as combining “the freedom and lyricism of jazz, the poetry of hip-hop, and…
Nov. 14, 2017
Mizzou New Music Ensemble presenting “Words and Music” and more on Sunday, December 3 at Whitmore Recital Hall
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble will premiere new works by seven different Mizzou composers in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, December 3 at Whitmore Recital Hall, 135 Fine Arts Building on the Mizzou campus. Admission is $5 for the general public, free for Mizzou faculty, students and staff with ID. The full Ensemble (pictured) will present the premiere performances of “notfromme” by Mikkel Christensen, a first-year master’s student; “Night Blossoms,” by senior composition major Ben Colagiovanni; “If you have nothing nice to say [say it softly],” by Libby Roberts, also a first-year master’s student and the pianist for…