Making Missouri a major center for the music of tomorrow

The Mizzou New Music Initiative is pleased to welcome Chen Yi as one of two distinguished guest composers for the 2021 Mizzou International Composers Festival.

Chen (pictured) 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 and musical boundaries.

She holds a BA and MA in music composition from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and a DMA from Columbia University in New York City. Chen was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2019.

As a distinguished guest composer for the MICF, Chen will give individual composition lessons to the resident composers, make a public presentation on her music, and consult with the ensembles who will be performing her works during the festival.

The Mizzou New Music Ensemble will play Chen’s “Near Distance” as part of the “Mizzou New Music” online concert on Wednesday, July 28, and Alarm Will Sound will present the US premiere of Stefan Freund’s arrangement of Chen’s “Sparkle” during the “World Premieres II” online concert on Saturday, July 31.

Other recent premieres include “Plum Blossom,” a piano solo performed by 15 semi-finalists at the Fifth Hong Kong International Piano Competition; a three-movement symphonic work, “Introduction, Andante, and Allegro,” co-commissioned by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic and performed by the SSO at Benaroya Hall in Seattle; and “Fire,” commissioned by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition and performed by Grossman Ensemble at Logan Center Performance Hall at the University of Chicago.

Chen’s music has been performed and commissioned by many leading musicians and ensembles, including Yehudi Menuhin, Yo-Yo Ma, Evelyn Glennie, the Cleveland Orchestra, the BBC, Seattle, Pacific, Kansas City, and Singapore Symphonies, the Brooklyn, NY, and LA Philharmonic, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Her music also has been recorded on labels including Bis, New Albion, CRI, Teldec, Telarc, Albany, New World, Naxos, Quartz, Delos, Angel, Bridge, Nimbus, KIC, and China Record Company.

Chen has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the Lieberson Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Other honors include first prize from the Chinese National Composition Contest, the Lili Boulanger Award, CalArts / Alpert Award, ASCAP Concert Music Award, and many more.

She has received the UMKC Kauffman Award in artistry/scholarship twice, in 2006 and 2019, and the faculty service award in 2012. Chen also has been awarded honorary doctorates by Lawrence University, Baldwin-Wallace College, University of Portland (OR), New School University (NYC), and the University of Hartford.

Known as a strong advocate for new music, American composers, Asian composers, and women in music, Chen has served on the advisory or educational boards of the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Chamber Music America, Meet The Composer, the American Music Center, New Music USA, the American Composers Orchestra, the League of Composers/ISCM, the International Alliance of Women in Music, and the Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy.

Chen Yi is the subject of an eponymous biography written by Leta E. Miller and J. Michele Edwards and published in December 2020 by the University of Illinois Press. You can hear some samples of her music in the embedded players below.

“Ning,” recorded July 2015 at Beijing Conservatory, featuring Alexandra Greffin-Klein (violin), Sun Jing (pipa), and Alexis Descharmes (cello).

“Percussion Concerto,” performed in October 2018 at the Staller Center for the Arts Stony Brook University in Stony Brook NY, featuring the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Eduardo Leandro, and percussion soloist Sun Yi.

“The Fisherman’s Song,” performed by Yang Yang (piano) and Michael Taylor (violin) in February 2020 at Ward Recital Hall, Catholic University in Washington DC.

From December 2017, the Curtis 20/21 Ensemble at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia presented a portrait of composer Chen Yi.

Resident composer Nina Shekhar is a first generation Indian American who grew up in Detroit and now lives in New Jersey, where she is pursuing her PhD in composition at Princeton University.

She previously completed composition graduate studies at the University of Southern California and undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan, earning dual degrees in composition and chemical engineering.

Shekhar (pictured) has the unusual distinction of having three of her pieces programmed as part of the 2021 MICF. The new work she wrote as a resident composer, “Turn Your Feet Around,” will be performed by Alarm Will Sound as part of the “World Premieres II” online concert on Saturday, July 31.

In addition, her composition “Don’t Beat a Word” will be performed by Khemia Ensemble during the “Mizzou New Music” online concert on Wednesday, July 28, and “[redact]” will be presented as part of the ANTiCX event “Entry Points of Empathy” on Friday, July 30. (Shekhar is only the second composer to have three works performed during one year of the MICF; the first was resident composer inti figgis-vizueta in 2019.)

Her other recent and upcoming events include performances by the New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic (with soloists Nathalie Joachim and Pamela Z), Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and New World Symphony. More current projects include commissions for the Grand Rapids Symphony, Albany Symphony, The Crossing, 45th Parallel Universe Chamber Orchestra (sponsored by GLFCAM), saxophonist Timothy McAllister, and Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) (sponsored by LA Phil and New Music USA).

Shekhar’s music has been commissioned and performed by leading artists including Eighth Blackbird, International Contemporary Ensemble, LA Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, JACK Quartet, and many more. Her work has been featured at venues including Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Walt Disney Concert Hall (LA Phil’s Noon to Midnight), Library of Congress, National Gallery of Art, National Sawdust, and numerous others.

Shekhar recently was appointed as the 2021-2023 Composer-in-Residence for Young Concert Artists. She also is the recipient of the 2021 Rudolf Nissim Prize; two ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, in 2015 and 2019; and the 2018 ASCAP Foundation Leonard Bernstein Award.

An active educator, Shekhar is a composer teaching artist fellow for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and is on faculty at the Idyllwild Arts Academy and Brightwork newmusic‘s Project Beacon initiative. She also has held composition residencies at Western Michigan University and Portland State University, and recently served as an inaugural debut fellow of the Young Musicians Foundation, mentored by violinist and social activist Vijay Gupta.

In addition to composing, Shekhar also works as a flutist, pianist, and saxophonist. She has performed in the Detroit International Jazz Festival and as a soloist with the USC Thornton Symphony and the Lublin Philharmonic in the Poland International Piano Festival.

You can hear samples of Nina Shekhar’s music on her SoundCloud page and in the embedded players below.

“red,” recorded February 23, 2020 at First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica, featuring the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, with Robert Walker (oboe), Yasmina Spiegelberg (clarinet), Jessica Maxfield (alto sax), Benjamin Mitchell (bass clarinet), and Nick Akdag (bassoon).

“Cajón,” performed in March 2021 by Barry Gold (cello).

“DEAR ABBY,” recorded in August 2020 as part of Dogs of Desire’s series “Hot w/Mustard.”

Andrew Tholl comes to the 2021 MICF from Los Angeles, CA, where he works as a violinist, composer, drummer, and improvisor.

He holds degrees from Arizona State University, University of Michigan, and the California Institute of the Arts, and has served on the faculty at CalArts, Moorpark College, Ventura College, The Kadima Conservatory of Music, and Harmony Project.

Tholl’s performances and compositions have been heard across the United States and Europe, as he “continues to be involved with music for concert halls, art galleries, films, puppet shows, bars, garages, bedrooms, and coat closets.”

As a resident composer for the 2021 MICF, Tholl (pictured) has written a new work called “Despite the Unforeseen Circumstances; or Just Another Illusion of Explanatory Depth” that will be performed by Alarm Will Sound as part of the “World Premieres II” online concert on Saturday, July 31,

Tholl previously has created commissioned works for wild Up, the New Century Players, Machine Project, Danny Holt, and more. His music has been performed at REDCAT at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Dartington International Summer Festival in England, Complice in Berlin, Beyond Baroque in Los Angeles, Princeton University, Listen/Space in New York, Gridlock in Vancouver, and many other venues and festivals.

As a soloist and chamber musician, he has premiered more than 200 new works, collaborating with composers such as Sylvano Bussotti, Christian Wolff, David Rosenboom, Wadada Leo Smith, Arthur Jarvinen, Roger Reynolds, Harold Budd, and George Crumb.

Tholl also is a member and co-founder of the Formalist Quartet, known to many as the preeminent new music string quartet in Southern California. The quartet been in residence at Princeton University, Stanford University, University of California – San Diego, and Villa Aurora, and has performed for numerous festivals and concert series including sound ON in San Diego, MOSA in New York, Reykjavik Arts Festival, Unruly Music at the University of Wisconsin, and more.

The Formalist Quartet’s recordings can be heard on Innova, Lakefire, Cold Blue, and Populist Records, which Tholl co-owns and operates with fellow Formalist Quartet member Andrew McIntosh.

Aside from his work as a “classical” musician and composer, Andrew maintains a second musical life performing pop, rock, punk, noise and improvisational music. He currently plays with the ensembles TempWerks, Paper Tiger Trio, and touchy-feely. and in the past has performed with artists including Aretha Franklin, Busta Rhymes, Scott Weiland, Diana Krall, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Vinny Golia, and more. He also has worked in scoring for film, dance, and theater as both a performer and composer.

You can hear some samples of Andrew Tholl’s music on his SoundCloud page and via the embedded players below.

“hold still while the world turns” performed by Aperture Duo, with Adrianne Pope (violin) and Linnea Powell (viola), on July 11, 2017 at the Boston Court Performing Arts Center in Pasadena, CA.

“Excuse My Dust,” performed July 23, 2015 by Isaura String Quartet and Argenta Walther. (Text attributed to Dorothy Parker.)

“Memory Draws the Map We Follow” performed by Jodie Landau of Wild Up

The University of Missouri’s representative among the resident composers at this year’s MICF is Daniel Fitzpatrick, who currently is studying for his master’s in composition at Mizzou.

Fitzpatrick also is a music technology graduate assistant and has served as the pianist of the Mizzou New Music Ensemble. A native of Wentzville, MO, he earned his bachelor of music degree at Southeast Missouri State University.

For the MICF, he has written a new work titled “Adapt,” which will be performed by Alarm Will Sound as part of the “World Premieres I” online concert on Tuesday, July 27.

A multi-instrumentalist as well as a composer, Fitzpatrick began playing banjo at age seven, and also plays guitar and mandolin in addition to piano. Bluegrass and folk music have had considerable significance in his life as a composer and performer, but his original music draws on a variety of influences, exploring “many different folk traditions in his compositions along with the genres of dubstep, glitch, pop, and modern classical music.”

These diverse influences come into focus in various ways as Fitzpatrick composes and arranges music for banjo. For example, his 2019 piece “Perplexion” fuses the styles of bluegrass, ragtime, jazz, and contemporary classical music. He also has arranged and performed Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Prelude in C# minor Op. 3, No. 2” on the banjo, defying the often stereotypical image and perceived limitations of the instrument.

Fitzpatrick has been featured as a banjo soloist and composer in various concerts and recitals at the University of Missouri, Southeast Missouri University, and East Central College.

This past year, his composition “Poem of the Phantom Queen,” commissioned by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation and the Sheldon Concert Hall, was premiered by pianist Peter Henderson and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra cellist Bjorn Ranheim in a concert in March at The Sheldon.

He also was part of the 2020 MICF, performing his banjo concertino “Ancient Echoes” with the Mizzou New Music Ensemble in an online concert, showcasing the extended capabilities of the instrument in a setting of acoustic sound effects and modal interplay.

Fitzpatrick in 2017 was featured in a collaborative recital with artist Najjar Abdul-Mussawwir’s “Reconstructed” exhibition at Southeast Missouri State University. During this event, he premiered his piece “Premonition” and performed traditional bluegrass music, as well as works by Béla Fleck and Tony Trischka.

You can hear some samples of Daniel Fitzpatrick’s music in the embedded video windows below.

“Poem of the Phantom Queen,” performed by Bjorn Ranheim (cello) and
Peter Henderson (piano) on March 25, 2021 at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

“Ancient Echoes,” recorded in 2020 by the Mizzou New Music Ensemble, with Daniel Fitzpatrick (banjo), Stephen Landy (percussion), Ann Mozina (flute), Jordan Nielson (percussion), Pedro Ramiro (violin), Cameron Tubbs (cello). and Andrew Wiele (clarinet), directed by Dr. Stefan Freund.