Classical music fans and others who venture out to Columbia's Missouri Theatre this weekend for the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival will hear music not heard on KBIA. They will hear music not heard anywhere before for that matter.
That's because Saturday's performance by the ensemble Alarm Will Sound is performing a world premiere of eight new compositions. Alarm Will Sound members are spending the week leading up to Saturday's concert immersing themselves in these new compositions.
While 15 members of Alarm Will Sound travel from all corners of the United States, one member merely has to commute across town. MU School of Music Faculty in Composition and Music Theory Stefan Freund is the founding cellist in the band. In a recent interview (full audio above), Freund stressed how much the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival brings to Columbia.
"The reason why we have the [new music] programs we have...is because of the patronage of Jeanne Sinquefeld. Jeanne's mission is to make Columbia and the State of Missouri a mecca, a destination, an incubator for new music."
As a result, Freund says, the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival gives Missouri a "nationwide profile."
Alarm Will Sound performs Eight World Premieres this Saturday, July 28 at 8:00pm at the Missouri Theatre.