The University of Missouri School of Music and the Mizzou New Music Initiative today announced the eight resident composers selected for the 2012 Festival, which will take place Monday, July 23 through Saturday, July 28 in Columbia. Chosen through a portfolio application process that this year attracted 144 entries from all over the world—including Israel, France, Ireland, Spain, South Africa, Russia, England, Thailand, Canada and China—they are:
- Stephanie Berg—Columbia, MO
- Brian Ciach—Bloomington, IN
- David Crowell—New York, NY
- Stylianos Dimou—Rochester, NY
- Ted Goldman—Rochester, NY
- Patrick Harlin—Ann Arbor, MI
- Charlie Piper—London, England
- Asha Srinivasan—Appleton, WI
Three of the composers selected have significant international ties: Piper, a native and current resident of London; Dimou, who was born and raised in Greece; and Srinivasan, who was born in the United States but lived in India as a child. Mizzou is represented in the group by Stephanie Berg, a graduate student working toward a Master's degree in clarinet performance and composition, and winner of the 2009 Sinquefield Composition Prize.
The 2012 Mizzou New Music Summer Festival will include a series of public concerts featuring music from the resident composers and other contemporary creators, as well as workshops, master classes and other events.
The Festival's guest composers for 2012 will be Steven Stucky, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for composition and professor at Cornell University; and Donnacha Dennehy, a native of Dublin who is one of the leading contemporary composers in Ireland. The acclaimed new music group Alarm Will Sound, conducted by artistic director Alan Pierson, once again will serve as resident ensemble, as they have since the Festival began in 2010.
During the festival, the eight resident composers will receive composition lessons from Stucky and Dennehy; take part in rehearsals with Alarm Will Sound; give presentations on their music; and receive a premiere performance and professional live recording of a new work created specifically for the Festival and Alarm Will Sound.
A complete schedule of events, times, dates and venues for the 2012 Mizzou New Music Summer Festival will be announced at a later date. For more information, please visit http://newmusicsummerfestival.missouri.edu/.
The Mizzou New Music Summer Festival is part of the Mizzou New Music Initiative, a diverse array of programs at the University of Missouri's School of Music co-directed by Dr. Stefan Freund and Dr. W. Thomas McKenney.
Intended to position the school as a leading center for music composition and new music and to showcase Missouri as a center for the music of tomorrow, the Initiative is a direct result of a $1 million donation by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation led by Dr. Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield. The City of Columbia Office of Cultural Affairs and the Missouri Arts Council also have provided financial assistance for the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival.
