June 17, 2025
Mizzou New Music Ensemble Completes 12-Day South American Tour Featuring Concerts and Readings of Local Composers’ Works
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble has completed a two-week South American tour that featured four public concert performances of eight local composers’ works as well as readings of local students’ works and conducting/composition classes in Lima, Peru, and Medellín and Bogotá, Colombia. This was the MNME’s second South American tour; the first was held in 2023. The seven-piece ensemble, led by conductor and director Dr. Stefan Freund, performed on May 15 at Lima’s Universidad Nacional de Música and on May 16 at Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, with readings of Lima students’ works on…
May 8, 2025
Mizzou New Music Ensemble to Perform Four Concerts with Residencies in South America May 15-24, 2025
The Mizzou New Music Ensemble will travel to South America May 15-24, 2025, for a tour of concert performances and residencies at four leading universities in Lima, Peru, and Medellín and Bogota, Colombia. Mizzou New Music Initiative Artistic Director Stefan Freund will lead each concert and residency, and Managing Director Andrea Luque Káram will assist on the tour, which will include eight musicians and composers. Each concert on the tour will feature performances of a work by a local composer associated with the host institution. At each location, the Mizzou composers…
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,…
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.
Sep. 10, 2024
St. Louis Area Concert Series to Showcase Mizzou New Music Initiative Composers’ Works Performed by St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Members
A series of six new concerts featuring new works from the Mizzou New Music Initiative composers will be performed in St. Louis this fall and in spring 2025 by members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at the Sheldon Concert Hall and the Touhill Performing Arts Center.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…
Sep. 5, 2024
Mizzou Music Composition Alum Nikolaus Schroeder Awarded Prestigious Barlow General Commission
University of Missouri graduate Nikolaus Schroeder has received a 2024 Barlow Endowment General Commission to write a new intermedia work for Kali Ensemble, a contemporary music collective based in the Hague, the Netherlands. Schroeder graduated from Mizzou in 2020 with a Master of Music in Composition degree. The Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, one of the premier commissioning organizations for new concert music in the U.S., was established in 1983 through the generosity of Milton A. and Gloria Barlow and is administered by Brigham Young University. Schroeder was…
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…
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…