May 5, 2025
Mizzou New Music Initiative to expand thanks to $4.6 million gift
A $4.6 million gift from Dr. Jeanne Sinquefield, Rex Sinquefield, and the Sinquefield CharitableFoundation will ensure University of Missouri students continue to redefine the sounds oftomorrow through the Mizzou New Music Initiative. The funding will expand opportunities for students and faculty, supercharging a program alreadyknown for fostering bold, original compositions and turning visionary ideas into reality. “My goal is to make Missouri a mecca for musical composition,” said Jeanne Sinquefield, amember of the UM Board of Curators and founder of the Mizzou New Music Initiative (MNMI). “The MNMI covers K-12, undergraduate,…
April 8, 2025
Song composed for Creating Original Music Project creates a win for student as well as a small Missouri community
For evidence of how the Mizzou New Music Initiative’s Creating Original Music Project can impact not just an aspiring songwriter/composer, but also a teacher, a school, and even a community, look no further than Galena, Missouri’s Brendan Rieth and his song “Pretty,” which earned second place in COMP’s High School Acoustic category. Galena – population 455 as of the 2020 census – “is like, your picture-perfect definition of a rural small town,” says Drew Tate, the Music Director at Galena High School, the student body of which numbers around 200. “It’s very close-knit. So…
Jan. 16, 2025
NEW YORK-BASED CHAMBER ORCHESTRA ALARM WILL SOUND TO PERFORM GROUNDBREAKING CONTEMPORARY MUSIC CONCERT IN COLUMBIA
Nationally recognized chamber-music orchestra Alarm Will Sound will present an evening of groundbreaking contemporary classical music in Columbia on January 21, 2025, featuring works by composers Oscar Bettison, Brittany J. Green, and Nnux, whose bold and imaginative creations redefine the boundaries of contemporary music. Titled New Voices, New Perspectives and presented by the Mizzou New Music Initiative (MNMI), the 7:30 pm concert at the Sinquefield Music Center will bring together diverse voices and perspectives, offering powerful meditations on identity, memory, and humanity’s shared experiences.
Oct. 30, 2024
MNMI welcomes Martín Fraile and Mauricio Charbonnier for November residency
The Mizzou New Music Initiative (MNMI) is set to welcome conductor Martín Fraile and composer and pianist Mauricio Charbonnier, who will be in residence from November 13-17. Fraile is the Artistic Director of the Rio Negro Philharmonic and an avid curator of music festivals in the Rio Negro region of Argentina. He will serve as guest conductor of the Mizzou New Music Ensemble (NME), coaching rehearsals and conducting part of the concert at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 17 at the Sinquefield Music Center’s Sheryl…
Aug. 1, 2024
Premieres of works by Resident and Guest Composers highlight the 2024 Mizzou International Composers Festival
The 2024 Mizzou International Composers Festival, held July 22-27 at the University of Missouri and various locations in Columbia, concluded with a concert at the Missouri Theatre. It featured new works by eight MICF Resident Composers, performed by Ensemble-in-Residence Alarm Will Sound. This year’s Resident Composers are Lukáš Janata, Davor Vincze, Yingting Liu, Lila Meretzky, Benjamin Scheuer, ess whiteley, Mahbod Shirvani, and Claire Hu. The Festival also included a concert in which Alarm Will Sound performed pieces by Distinguished Guest Composers Mary Kouyoumdjian (Paper Pianos, a finalist for…
June 21, 2024
MIZZOU NEW MUSIC INITIATIVE READIES 2024 MIZZOU INTERNATIONAL COMPOSERS FESTIVAL
The 2024 edition of the Mizzou International Composers Festival is set to take place from July 22-27 at the University of Missouri and select Columbia locations. Presented by the Mizzou New Music Initiative, the festival includes several public concerts, world premiere performances, appearances by Distinguished Guest Composers George Lewis and Mary Kouyoumdjian, and a concert in which acclaimed new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound will perform works by eight Resident Composers invited to the festival. Here is the 2024 MICF schedule:…
Nov. 4, 2023
MU School of Music graduate student Giovanni Porfirio’s opera “Entre-veias: uma ópera de entranhas” performed in Brazil
An opera composed by University of Missouri School of Music graduate student Giovanni Porfirio was performed on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023 at the Theatro São Pedro in Porto Alegre Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Entre-veias: uma ópera de entranhas (Among Veins: An opera of entrails), with a libretto by Jaoa de Mello, was part of a project that brought together three Brazilian composers to create works performed during the 2023 season at one of Brazil’s foremost opera houses. Giovanni Porfirio Porfirio’s opera explores the life of a virus that becomes the central character of the…
Oct. 17, 2023
The Mizzou New Music Initiative announces its fall semester schedule of Columbia, MO, events and other important dates
Today, the Mizzou New Music Initiative (MNMI) announced its fall semester schedule of events occurring in Columbia, MO, as well as other important dates. The Mizzou New Music Initiative is a diverse array of programs that position the University of Missouri School of Music as a leading center for the composition and performance of new music. The initiative is supported by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation, led by Dr. Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield. Their vision is to create an incubator for the composition and performance of new music and to showcase Missouri as a center…