St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

Jan. 21, 2025

Mizzou student Seda Balci featured on the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s SLSO Stories blog

Mizzou student Seda Balci, a composer and pianist, was recently featured on the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s SLSO Stories blog. Balci’s piece Adieu to the Moon will be given its world premier performance at 7:30 p.m. January 30 as part of the SLSO’s “Live at the Sheldon” chamber-music series.   The series is an ongoing collaboration between the SLSO and the Mizzou New Music Initiative. The January 30 concert, held at The Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis, is curated by the orchestra’s bass clarinetist…

July 12, 2024

MICF Resident Composer Spotlight: Mahbod Shirvani

Mahbod Shirvani is an Iranian electroacoustic composer and tar player based in the United States. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Persian music performance, studying under Darioush Talaei, Siamak Aghaei, Hossein Alizadeh, and Azin Movahed at the University of Tehran. Mahbod Shirvani Shirvani has participated in international master classes and lessons with renowned composers such as Ken Ueno, Nina C. Young, Chaya Czernowin, Katharina Rosenberger, Marco Stroppa, Joachim Heintz, and Fanis Gioles. Throughout his career, Shirvani has delivered a number of performances as both a performer and composer, including roles as a theater and film composer in Iran. He…

April 23, 2024

Mizzou music students will have their works performed by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

At 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 30, three University of Missouri School of Music students will have their compositions performed by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at the Touhill Performing Arts Center in St. Louis. Seda Balci, Giovanni Porfirio, and Mahbod Shrivani were selected to participate in an annual composer’s workshop which is a collaboration between the SLSO and the Mizzou New Music Initiative. The program is funded by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. The April 30 performance is the culmination of a process that began last fall in which composers’ early drafts were critiqued by conductor…

Feb. 19, 2024

Mizzou New Music Initiative releases 2023 activity summary

The Mizzou New Music Initiative has released its summary of 2023 activities for the Mizzou New Music Ensemble, composition students and Mizzou International Composers Festival. MIZZOU NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE The NME performed concerts including music by Maria Disandro, Santiago Beis, Sam Whitty, Franco Donatoni, Kevin Day, Gabe Evers, Sofia Fiorino, and Atticus Schlegel in the spring semester. A March residency with Elizabeth A. Baker resulted in a video performance. The ensemble performed during the Latin American Music Festival in Columbia on April 10 and at UMKC on…

Feb. 5, 2024

The Mizzou New Music Initiative announces its schedule of events being held in St. Louis, MO, during the spring 2024 semester

Today, the Mizzou New Music Initiative (MNMI) announced its schedule of events being held in St. Louis, MO, during the spring 2024 semester. Feb. 7, 2024, 7:30 p.m. Robyne Sieh’s Sheldon Commission Premiere, “The Art of Dreaming,” is part of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra chamber music concert “Ravel and Dvorák: Strings with Piano,” curated by SLSO Concertmaster David Halen and Principal Second Violin Alison Harney. A senior from O’Fallon, MO, Sieh says the inspiration for the piece was “a story about someone who is wrongly imprisoned and then later released” and calls it, “an allegory to…

Dec. 28, 2022

End of Fall ’22 semester highlighted by artist residency, SLSO collaboration, Mizzou New Music Ensemble concert

The latter part of the fall 2022 semester has been a busy one for the University of Missouri School of Music and the Mizzou New Music Initiative. Here is a summary of what has been going on. Abstract sound artist Maria Chavez had a five-day residency at Mizzou (Nov. 7-11). The Peruvian turntablist spent time with the Mizzou New Music Ensemble, talking about listening practices and the various influences that inform her work. Chavez demonstrated her turntable skills for students using records that were generously donated by Columbia’s Hitt Street Records. Chavez shared her…

May 30, 2022

Mizzou New Music Ensemble and composition graduates reflect on positive MNMI experiences

Seven members of the Mizzou New Music Ensemble (NME) and five composition majors received degrees or completed their coursework at the Mizzou School of Music in May 2022. 2021-22 Mizzou New Music Ensemble members, with Director Yoshiaki Onishi (third from front) and Dr. Stefan Freund, Artistic Director of MNMI (fifth from front) NME members receiving Master of Music degrees included: Daniel Fitzpatrick, pianist – composition; Stephen Landy – percussion; Andy Lewis – cello; Jordan Nielsen – percussion; Eve Werger – piano; and Andrew Wiele – clarinet. Johanny Veiga Barbosa, violinist, completed her coursework for a…

April 28, 2022

May 11 Sheldon Concert Hall Performance features world premiere of string quartet by Mizzou composer María Laura Disandro

On Wednesday, May 11 at 8 p.m., The Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis will present the final “Sheldon Classics” performance of the 2021-22 season. Violinist and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra assistant concertmaster Erin Schreiber will lead a string quartet featuring fellow Symphony members violinist Shawn Weil, violist Leonid Plashinov-Johnson, and cellist Bjorn Ranheim. The quartet will play Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major and a new work for string quartet by Mizzou composer María Laura Disandro, Burning Matchstick House (2022). The quartet will be joined by pianist Peter Henderson for a performance of Brahms’…