The University of Missouri at Columbia has created the Mizzou New Music Initiative, an array of programs designed to position the school as a center for music composition and new music. The initiative is the result of a $1 million donation by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. The initiative will include two full-tuition scholarships for incoming freshmen seeking degrees in music composition; three graduate assistantships for performers dedicated to performing new music, which include full-tuition waivers and a stipend of approximately $5,000; a composition prize open to undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Missouri; a New Music Summer Festival, featuring eight to ten composers from around the world creating a composition to be performed by the ensemble Alarm Will Sound; and Composer Connection, a distance-learning program that allows young composers from throughout Missouri to study with a graduate student in composition at the University of Missouri. The Missouri-based Sinquefield Charitable Foundation is headed by Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield; the foundation also funds and sponsors Creating Original Music Competition (C.O.M.P.), a statewide competition for young composers from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade.
Posted October 9, 2009
