New music reed quintet Splinter Reeds in residence at University of Missouri School of Music Oct. 19-20

The new music reed quintet Splinter Reeds will be in residence at the University of Missouri School of Music on Oct. 19 and 20. Splinter Reeds is the West Coast’s first reed quartet and is committed to presenting top-tier performances of contemporary works, commissioning new works, and exploring the possibilities of a quintet made up…

Premieres of works by Resident and Guest composers among the highlights of the 2023 Mizzou International Composers Festival

The 2023 Mizzou International Composers Festival wrapped up on Saturday, July 29, with a concert at Columbia’s Missouri Theater. It featured world premieres of new works by eight MICF Resident Composers, performed by Ensemble-in-Residence Alarm Will Sound. The Resident Composers are Santiago Beis, Chen Yihan, Peter Fahey, Sophie Mathieu, Ali Can Puskulcu, Kelley Sheehan, Trevor…

Mizzou music students’ works performed by St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

Last Wednesday, three University of Missouri School of Music students found out what it is like to have their work performed by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at Powell Hall. For seniors Sam Whitty and Jack Snelling and graduate student Santiago Beis, the concert was the culmination of a process that began last year when…

A look back at the 2022 Mizzou International Composers Festival concerts

The 2022 Mizzou International Composers Festival returned to live concerts after two years of online-only performances at the 2020 and 2021 MICFs. If you attended the live MILF concerts presented at the Missouri Theater, and at Sheryl Crow Hall at the Sinquefield Music Center the last week of July, you experienced firsthand the energy and…

May 6th application deadline for the 2022 Missouri Summer Composition Institute

The 2022 Missouri Summer Composition Institute will once again be offered in person June 11-18 on the campus of the University of Missouri. The Summer Composition Institute offers an incredible opportunity for young Missouri composers to come together for one week of learning and interacting with other creative minds – and all accepted students will be able to…

Stefan Freund wins commission from Barlow Endowment

University of Missouri professor of composition and Mizzou New Music Initiative artistic director Stefan Freund has won a commission for 2021 from the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition. Freund (pictured) was one of 9 composers selected from among 259 applications this year to the Endowment’s General and LDS commissioning programs, which will award grants totaling…

Mizzou composer, musicians featured in PBS special celebrating Missouri’s bicentennial

A new work written by a Mizzou composer and performed by MU faculty members will be featured in "Show Me the Music: A Celebration of the Missouri Bicentennial," a television special that will air beginning this week on PBS affiliates in Missouri. "Waterways" was written on commission specifically for the bicentennial project by Stefan Freund…

Mizzou New Music Ensemble featured on new recording

The Mizzou New Music Ensemble is featured on Black Pierrot, a new album by Mizzou's University Singers that is being released this week on the Centaur Records label. The album (pictured) is described as "a program of great choral works, including one work from the 1500s, works from the 20th Century," plus the title track,…