June 16, 2021
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, which is performed by the Singers and the Mizzou New Music Ensemble, directed by Stefan Freund. It’s the world premiere recording of this new work, which was commissioned from composer William Averitt by R. Paul Crabb, director of choral activities at…
Sep. 25, 2018
Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth to perform Tuesday, October 23 at Missouri Theatre
The Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth is coming to Columbia to perform at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, October 23 at the Missouri Theatre. Tickets are $23 and $28, and are on sale now via Ticketmaster and at the Missouri Theatre box office. While they’re in town, members of Roomful of Teeth will visit the University of Missouri campus to give a presentation on their music and take part in a reading session of works by student composers David Vega, Niko Schroeder, and Ethan Forte. They also will coach and rehearse with the University Singers,…
March 15, 2017
William Averitt’s “Black Pierrot” inspired by poet Langston Hughes
Mizzou musicology professor Stephanie Shonekan (at left) leads a discussion with composer William Averitt (second from right) on the poetry of Langston Hughes. For his latest commissioned work “Black Pierrot,” composer William Averitt once again has drawn inspiration from the poetry of Langston Hughes. Scheduled for a world premiere on Saturday, March 18 at First Baptist Church in Columbia, “Black Pierrot” was commissioned by Mizzou’s director of choral studies Paul Crabb for the University Singers and the Mizzou New Music Ensemble, directed by Stefan Freund, with funding from the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. Averitt, who’s now professor emeritus of…
March 8, 2017
University Singers, Mizzou New Music Ensemble to premiere new work by William Averitt in concert on Saturday, March 18
The University of Missouri’s University Singers and Mizzou New Music Ensemble will present the world premiere of “Black Pierrot,” a newly commissioned work from composer William Averitt, in a concert at 7:00 p.m. Saturday, March 18 at the First Baptist Church, 1112 East Broadway in Columbia. General admission to the concert is $5 for the public, free for Mizzou faculty, students and staff. “Black Pierrot” was commissioned by Mizzou director of choral activities Paul Crabb for the University Singers and the Mizzou New Music Ensemble with funding from the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. Inspired by seven poems…
Oct. 23, 2015
University Singers to premiere new work by Chen Yi
This weekend, the Mizzou New Music Initiative and the University of Missouri School of Music will have the honor of welcoming Chen Yi for a brief residency on the MU campus and a world premiere. Chen (pictured) currently is a distinguished professor of composition at the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. A finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her composition “Si Ji” (“Four Seasons”), she was born and raised in Guangzhou, China and is known as a prolific composer who blends Chinese and Western traditions, transcending cultural…
April 8, 2014
New oratorio by Mizzou’s Stefan Freund reveals
Missouri’s Civil War history through music
Though the Civil War ended nearly 150 years ago, it remains a continuing subject of fascination for historians and in pop culture, inspiring poems, songs, novels, films and more. Now the war’s divisive effects on the state of Missouri are the subject of a new oratorio by Stefan Freund, an associate professor of composition and music theory at the University of Missouri and co-artistic director of the Mizzou New Music Initiative. The world premiere of “The War Amongst Families and Neighbors: The Civil War in Missouri” will be presented by the University of Missouri School of…