COLUMBIA, Mo., June 24,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2024 edition of the Mizzou
International Composers Festival is set to take place from
July 22-27 at the University of Missouri and select Columbia locations.
Presented by the Mizzou New Music Initiative, the festival
includes several public concerts, world premiere performances,
appearances by Distinguished Guest Composers George Lewis and
Mary Kouyoumdjian, and a concert in
which acclaimed new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound will perform
works by eight Resident Composers invited to the festival.
Here is the 2024 MICF schedule:
Wednesday, July 24,
7:30 p.m.: Dismal Niche and
Landlocked Opera present an opera premiere by Felix Jarrar and a performance by experimental
harpist and composer Zeena Parkins
at the Black Box Theatre of Locust Street Expressive Arts
Elementary School, 1208 Locust Street.
Thursday, July 25, 7:30 p.m.: Alarm Will Sound will perform
Kouyoumdjian's "Paper Pianos," Lewis's "Arcades" and "The
Deformation of Mastery," Andrew
Norman's "Try," and "Instrumentation Variations," a piece
celebrating the festival's 15th MICF, by MNMI Artistic
Director Stefan Freund.
Friday, July 26, 7:30 p.m.: Performances by the Mizzou New
Music Ensemble and University of
Missouri School of Music faculty at the Sinquefield Music
Center's Sheryl Crow Hall, 1101
University Avenue.
Saturday, July 27, 7:30 p.m.: Alarm Will Sound will perform
eight new works by Resident Composers at the Missouri Theatre.
"We are very excited to welcome so many accomplished composers
to the 2024 MICF, especially Distinguished Guest Composers George
Lewis and Mary Kouyoumdjian," Freund
said. "Works from composers of various backgrounds and perspectives
will be presented throughout the week, continuing the festival's
tradition of providing an incredibly broad overview of the music of
today while providing a preview of the music of tomorrow."
Distinguished Guest Composers
George Lewis is an
American composer, musicologist, and trombonist. He is the Edwin H.
Case Professor of American Music and Area Chair in Composition at
Columbia University. Lewis's central
areas of scholarship include the history and criticism of
experimental music, computer music, interactive media, and
improvisation, particularly as these areas become entangled with
the dynamics of race, gender, and decolonization. Recent
compositions include "Celebration," "The Faculty of Sensing" and
"Tightrope."
Mary Kouyoumdjian is a
composer and documentarian with projects ranging from concert works
to multimedia collaborations and film scores. As a first generation
Armenian-American and having come from a family directly affected
by the Lebanese Civil War and Armenian Genocide, she uses a sonic
palette that draws on her heritage, interest in music as
documentary, and background in experimental composition to
progressively blend the old with the new. A strong believer in
freedom of speech and the arts as an amplifier of expression, her
compositional work often integrates recorded testimonies with
resilient individuals and field recordings of place to invite
empathy by humanizing complex experiences around social and
political conflict. Her work "Paper Pianos" was a finalist for the
2024 Pulitzer Prize in music.
During the festival, Lewis and Kouyoumdjian will lead workshops
and give private lessons to the Resident Composers.
Resident Composers
The Resident Composers chosen for the festival and the titles of
their compositions are Lila
Meretzky, "DINNER"; Mahbod
Shirvani, "Sounds for Nothing"; Benjamin Scheuer, "Trittbrettfahrer";
Claire Hu, "the growing pull of your
softening hand"; Lukáš Janata, "GRAAL"; Liu Yingting, "Kill a
Cow!"; Davor Vincze, "Ashes"; and
ess whiteley, "Machine Spectre."
Alarm Will Sound
Alarm Will Sound is a 20-member band committed to innovative
performances and recordings of today's music. They have established
a reputation for performing demanding music with energetic skill.
Their performances have been described as "equal parts exuberance,
nonchalance, and virtuosity" by the Financial Times of London and as "a triumph of ensemble playing"
by the San Francisco Chronicle. The New York
Times says that Alarm Will Sound is "one of the most vital
and original ensembles on the American music scene."
Streaming
All events can be livestreamed at Mizzou New Music Initiative
Facebook
MU School of Music YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@mizzoumusic
The film "An Act of Worship," for which Kouyoumdjian composed
the music, will be screened at Ragtag Cinema, 10 Hitt Street, on
Sunday, July 21 at 1 p.m. and Tuesday, July
23 at 5:30 p.m.
Contact
Interviews with MNMI Artistic Director Stefan Freund (freunds@missouri.edu) and MNMI
Managing Director Andrea Luque Karam
(andrea.luquekaram@missouri.edu) are available upon request.
For further information about MICF, the Mizzou New Music
Initiative, and the University of
Missouri School of Music, visit
newmusic.missouri.edu/micf
To stay up to date with all MNMI announcements, follow them on
Instagram and Facebook: @MizzouNewMusic
The Mizzou New Music Initiative brings together an array of
programs positioning the University of
Missouri School of Music as a leading center in the areas of
composition and new music. The Initiative is the direct result of
the generous support of Dr. Jeanne and Mr. Rex Sinquefield and the Sinquefield Charitable
Foundation.
For more about the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation, please
visit
https://www.facebook.com/Sinquefield-Charitable-Foundation-982998805057705.
Media Contact:
Laura Slay
314-504-0081
379489@email4pr.com
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SOURCE Mizzou New Music Initiative