July 3, 2025
Mizzou International Composers Festival Spotlight: Distinguished Guest Composer Judd Greenstein
The Mizzou New Music Initiative is pleased to welcome Judd Greenstein as one of two Distinguished Guest Composers for the 2025 Mizzou International Composers Festival. The Festival, which takes place from Wednesday, July 23 through Saturday, July 26 on the campus of the University of Missouri and at the Missouri Theatre, will also welcome Distinguished Guest Composer Hilda Paredes. Greenstein will have private meetings with the Resident Composers, work with groups who will be performing his music at the Festival, and make…
July 3, 2025
Mizzou International Composers Festival Spotlight: Distinguished Guest Composer Hilda Paredes
The Mizzou New Music Initiative is pleased to welcome Hilda Paredes as one of two Distinguished Guest Composers for the 2025 Mizzou International Composers Festival. The Festival, which takes place from Wednesday, July 23 through Saturday, July 26 on the campus of the University of Missouri and at the Missouri Theatre, will also welcome Distinguished Guest Composer Judd Greenstein. Paredes will have private meetings with the Resident Composers, work with groups who will be performing her music at the Festival, and make…
July 3, 2025
World Premieres of Eight Musical Works by Internationally Acclaimed Composers to be Performed by Alarm Will Sound at the Mizzou International Composers Festival Concert on Saturday, July 26 at Missouri Theatre in Columbia
New musical works by eight internationally acclaimed composers from four countries will be performed publicly for the first time in concert at the Missouri Theatre in Columbia on Saturday, July 26 at 7:30 pm as part of the 2025 Mizzou International Composers Festival (MICF). Critically acclaimed new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound, conducted by artistic director Alan Pierson, will perform all eight compositions during this dynamic public concert presented by the Mizzou New Music Initiative. The concert will cap six days of musical workshops and…
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…