Listen to his great conversation with host Mike McConnell.

Rex-Interview with Mike McConnell-4 Mike McConnell – October 6, 2011 10:00 am to 11:00 am(CST)

Rex Sinquefield, the President of Show-Me Institute drops in to the glass studio to talk with Mike about ridding the personal income tax. Rex argues that the personal income tax stalls the economy and explains how a sales tax would be a better alternative. A Colorado farmer, John Herald discusses how hiring locals to farm his crops didn’t pan out so well. Despite a high unemployment rate, John tells Mike that people would quit the job because of the hard labor that offered reasonable pay.

Online at: http://www.wgnradio.com/shows/mikemcconnell/wgnam-mike-mcconnell-100611-uncut-c,0,2567552.mp3file

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Listen as Rex Sinquefield talks taxes with Post-Dispatch

Rex and Jeanne share the importance of tapping into undiscovered talents, finding and growing composition in Missouri, and the goals and success of the Missouri New Music Initiative.


A symposium of America’s leading arts donors

July 1, 2011

Tell Me Something I Don’t Know About Giving to the Arts

“Tapping Into Undiscovered Talents”

Just giving money to composers and music programs isn’t enough. The Missouri New Music

Initiative is designed to find composers, to assist them in the development of their skills by

arranging for them to work with musical groups, and to have their compositions performed by

encouraging orchestras and ensembles to perform newly commissioned pieces. In the last 6 years,

the Missouri New Music Initiative has resulted in more than 100 new pieces of music being written

by composers aged 7 to 82 and being performed by ensembles, symphonies, and other musical groups. Giving to the

arts is a great way to tap into undiscovered talents and interests. With some thought and planning, arts contributors

can inspire composers, musicians, and audiences to think in new ways, to see the world in a new light, and to appreciate

things that they never knew they liked or possibly did not know existed.

What is Your Favorite Hidden gem in Arts and Culture?

“Finding and Growing Composers in Missouri”

As the result of our dedication to finding and growing composers in Missouri, we are now finding

hidden gems of new music now are popping up in unexpected and wonderful places throughout

mid-Missouri and St. Louis. In the last five years, two mid-Missouri orchestras have performed a

total of 20 new compositions. Recently, a winning composition from the Creating Original Music

Program was played by an orchestra in Thailand and by the St. Louis Symphony’s Youth Orchestra.

A new project called the Sound of Art was inspired by collaborations with the Missouri Botanical Garden and the

Contemporary Art Museum of Missouri.

Tell Me about a Really Smart Grant to the Arts

“Missouri New Music Initiative”

There is music being composed in the minds of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Missourians—music that is never

performed and never heard. The Sinquefield Charitable Foundation established the Missouri New Music Initiative t

o find and grow composers throughout the state and turn Missouri into a mecca for the original composition of music.

It began with the Creating Original Music Program for Missouri’s K–12th graders, in affiliation with the University of

Missouri–Columbia. The program is a competition for original compositions, where the winners receive a cash prize

and their entries are performed at our annual music festival. That program has expanded to a high school summer

camp, undergraduate and graduate level programs, a distance learning program, the Missouri New Music Ensemble,

and a New Music Summer Festival that attracts composers from all over the world to Missouri for a week-long

program.

—Index fund pioneer Rex Sinquefield co-founded Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA). Jeanne Sinquefield oversaw trading at DFA and is a string bassist in three Missouri symphonies. They are co-founders of the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation.

Online at: http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/article.asp?article=1682&paper=0&cat=149
http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/article.asp?article=1683&paper=0&cat=149
http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/article.asp?article=1685&paper=0&cat=149

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Jeanne Sinquefield – “Music is the Joy of my life”

By Kari Besharse on July 18, 2011

One of the things about the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival that has absolutely captivated me this week is the personal role that one of the primary donors, Dr. Jeanne Sinquefield, takes in the festival. I have never experienced this type of relationship before, and it has made me think a lot about the importance of patronage from private sources. I am familiar with funding that comes through various types of grants, either via non-profit organizations or local, state, and national arts councils, but I have never before been in a situation where a single private donor is so supportive, or is such an integral part of what she is funding. As a musician, I have often felt like the people who are in the best position to support the arts do not actually feel that art (especially the creation of new art) is an integral part of our culture or is worthy of support. However, here in Columbia, Missouri, the situation is unique—they have Jeanne Sinquefield.

Jeanne, who plays string bass in several local ensembles, first became interested in the idea of creating new music through one of her cousins, who was always writing music but could not actually notate or read the music that he was creating. Jeanne began to help her cousin out by writing some of his music down, and they would play the music together. From there, she became fascinated with how people create music and began to make plans to “grow composers.” Through a partnership with the University of Missouri School of Music, Jeanne started a three-tiered plan and often uses a baseball analogy to describe it. In the little league, K-12 students participate in the Creating Original Music Project, or COMP, which encourages students to compose music and culminates in a competition and performance of the winners’ music. The pony league allows high school students to further develop their skills as composers and ends in a competition and a summer camp. Jeanne considers the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival to be the major league. This festival brings eight emerging composers to Columbia where they receive a professional performance and recording of their piece by Alarm Will Sound.

I spoke with Jeanne during intermission of the concert Friday night entitled “Mizzou’s Right to Bear New Music.” Jeanne said that she could already see the results of her three-tiered plan—the number of students involved in the COMP project has already grown and many people in central Missouri have become involved in these programs and attend new music concerts. People in Columbia have also become more interested in and engaged with new music who would not have otherwise known about it except through these programs. This is the other side of the coin; Jeanne also sees the importance of bringing new audiences into the realm of contemporary music. From what I observed at the festival, it is working. All four concerts were well attended and the community members seemed curious and supportive, approaching performers and composers alike with questions and comments. The concert Friday night featured performances by members of the University of Missouri New Music Ensemble. I commented to Jeanne on how well the students were playing, and it turns out that Jeanne plays a big role in this as well. She supports five graduate assistantships for the new music ensemble.

From the very beginning of the festival, I was blown away by Jeanne’s generosity. In my first post, I mentioned that she invited us to her estate for dinner on the first night of the festival. She had also already been hosting Alarm Will Sound during the previous week, allowing them to use her lake house as a rehearsal space. In addition, Jeanne hosts artists for residencies and presents other concerts at her home. So, for me, it’s not just the fact that the Sinquefields donated the money to start the programs involved in the Mizzou New Music Initiative, it’s that she has such a personal relationship with the music-making she is supporting. Jeanne was at all of the concerts, and she is exuberant about her plans to transform Columbia into a “Mecca for new music.”

For more information about Jeanne Sinquefield and her involvement in the Mizzou New Music Initiative as well as her other philanthropic activities, visit the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation website.

From NewMusicBox, online at: http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/mizzou-new-music-summer-festival-the-importance-of-patronage/

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Mizzou New Music Summer Festival announces selection of eight resident composers for 2011

Branson grad composing musical career

Posted: Tuesday, June 21, 2011

By Tyler Francke |

Steven Snowden, far right, leads a coaching session with the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble in San Francisco, Calif., as they prepare a piece written by Snowden for a West Coast tour.

Growing up in Hollister, and later near Walnut Shade, young Steven Snowden had no college aspirations and expected he would find his career in construction, like his father and many other men in his family had before him.

Then, his sophomore year, he joined the Branson High School Concert Band, where he started learning the French horn.

“I was really terrible,” Snowden said with a laugh. “But I kept practicing, and I got better and better.”

He said his improvement was due in no small part to the dedication of then-band director Eric Matzat and choir director Bob Abbott, who recently retired.

“They were very supportive, encouraging and also very good at what they do,” Snowden said. “It proves how influential your teachers can be. I became so excited about music that I wanted to do something with it.”

What he did was enroll in Missouri State University in the Music Department, graduating in 2005 with a Bachelor of Music in composition. He said he began his education in performance, but changed his mind when he tried writing music for the first time.

“When I started composing, it was like a light bulb for me,” he said. “It was really exciting. I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”

Snowden continued his education, earning his Master’s in composition at the University of Colorado and beginning the Doctor of Musical Arts program at the University of Texas at Austin, which he hopes to complete in three more semesters.

At the same time, however, Snowden also embarked on his career in musical composition. He said he is a bit of a late bloomer in a field where many composers begin at the age of 7 or 8, which has been both a difficulty and a blessing.

“Because I got started kind of late, every time I write music, it’s really different,” he said. “I feel like I’m reinventing the wheel to a certain extent.”

But he’s also found that he  likes “being all over the place.”

“Music can express such a wide variety of things, and I want to explore a lot of those,” Snowden said. “I like writing all different kinds of music for different ensembles.”

While Snowden has received awards and fellowships from across the country, one of the most prestigious honors will be at the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival, which is being held in Columbia, just a few hours north of the town his family still calls home.

Snowden is one of eight composers selected in a nationwide search to produce a new work that will be played by Alarm Will Sound, a highly acclaimed music ensemble.

“It’s a pretty amazing opportunity. They’re one of the best-known concert music groups out there,” Snowden said. “They’re all top-of-the-line musicians.”

Snowden’s composition for the festival will be as unique as his background is in the composing world. His inspiration for the piece is the 1969 Led Zeppelin hit, “Dazed and Confused.”

“I didn’t grow up listening to classical music,” Snowden said. “I grew up listening to classic rock when I was helping my dad out at construction sites.”

Wherever Snowden’s career takes him, he said he will bring the Ozarks with him.

“When I started composing, I realized more and more that where I come from is a major part of the music I write,” he said. “There is a rich musical heritage in the Ozarks that I’m really trying to embrace. And being from that area is something I’m really proud of.”

Online at: http://bransontrilakesnews.com/entertainment/article_a0cc25a2-9c4c-11e0-a8b0-001cc4c002e0.html

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Young Area Composer Liza White Chosen for Mizzou New Music Summer Festival Gets National Media Coverage

Around the Columns
Conducting and composing

For Patrick Clark, winning the 2011 Sinquefield Composition Prize led to two big boosts for his musical career: the chance to compose an original score for the University Philharmonic and to conduct the orchestral performance.

Since 2006, the Sinquefield Composition Prize has selected an MU student to write a piece that is performed at the annual Chancellor’s Concert. Typically, the winner, who receives a scholarship and cash prize, works with the ensemble’s conductor. But because Clark, BM ’91, is a graduate student in orchestral conducting, he was asked to lead the ensemble’s performance. The dual roles led to unique experiences and challenges for Clark.

“I found out it might be easier to conduct someone else’s piece rather than your own,” Clark says. “During rehearsal, I was much less likely to address the orchestra if they needed to play with more accuracy. Instead, I went home and looked at the score to make sure I had written it correctly.”

Clark began writing the piece in late October 2010, when he learned that he had won the competition. He spent winter break composing from morning to night — though he says he didn’t mind.

“As long as I could make sure my electricity bill is paid, all I’d do is write music,” he says. “I’ve written one other full orchestra piece, but it always feels like the first time. Everything you think you know seems to go away in a cloud.”

In late January 2011, Clark finished his nine-minute piece, which was inspired by Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. He picked out themes from the late Russian composer’s work and interpreted them using his own contemporary American style. Clark’s piece debuted at the Chancellor’s Concert in March 2011 and a professional recording was made in April 2011.

This summer, Clark will continue honing his dual skill set as a resident composer for the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival, July 11–16. Visit newmusicsummerfestival.missouri.edu for a schedule of events.

Online at: http://mizzoumag.missouri.edu/2011-Summer/columns/sinquefield/index.php

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Columbia Civic Orchestra to Premier a Work Commissioned by Orchestra and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation

Published: Tuesday, June 21, 2011, 8:00 AM

By Kathryn Roy

2002 Longmeadow High School graduate Liza White has been selected as one of eight resident composers for the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival.

A 2002 Longmeadow High School graduate is making a name for herself in the music world.

Liza White, who plans to complete her doctorate studies in music composition at Northwestern University in the fall, has been selected as one of eight resident composers for the Mizzou New Music Summer Festival, put on by the University of Missouri School of Music and the Mizzou New Music Initiative, in July.

White, along with the other resident composers, will travel to Columbia for the festival, which runs July 11 through July 16. There, she’ll take part in a series of public concerts featuring her own music being performed, as well as music from other contemporary creators.

She will also have the opportunity to participate in workshops, master classes and other events.

Resident composers will be able to work with guest composers Roger Reynolds, winner of the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for music composition, and Anna Clyne, who serves as the Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
White’s music will be performed by the music group, Alarm Will Sound.

White said she is thrilled she was selected for the festival. “It’s a really fantastic group, and I’m excited to get to work with them,” she said. “It’s what young composers do to try to get out there and get their work performed,” she said of applying for such opportunities.

Under the application guidelines, White wrote a musical piece involving all of the 16 members of the ensemble.

The piece had to be less than eight minutes long.

White said she was also given information about where percussion instruments would be placed on the stage, so that one musician wasn’t expected to be running from one side of the stage to the other.

“I definitely took into account what I know about them (Alarm Will Sound),” she said. “I listened to their past performances and watched videos on YouTube. They’re really good about putting on a good show.” White said the ensemble also does some choreography in their performances, so she wrote some into her piece.

Alarm Will Sound plays arrangements of popular music, which is something White enjoys writing. “My music is very much influenced by pop music, and this piece is no exception,” she said.

A former trombonist who dabbles in voice and guitar, White focuses on composing these days, and hopes to eventually land a professorship in music composition.

“For me, the main reason to do things like this is to meet musicians and to work with people on a really personal level,” she said.

Jeanne Sinquefield of the Sinquefield Foundation, which funds the Mizzou New Music Initiative, said the festival attracted 120 applicants from around the globe.

She said the musicians in Alarm Will Sound are extremely talented, and it’s a wonderful opportunity for up and coming young composers to work with them. “

They have played together for so long that they’re able to play very complex new music,” Sinquefield said. “

What we offer (the resident composers) is to come for a week and actually work with the group, work with other composers and master composers and you get a recording. It’s a lot of fun.”

Sinquefield said the Initiative is one way to bring about new music, while many people are convinced that older pieces are the only thing worth listening to.

“Since our program started, there have been 100 pieces written for our program,” she said.

White said she is indebted to the music department at Longmeadow High School for giving her her start. “I was very lucky to have that,” she said.

“While I was a good student, it was music that kept me wanting to go to school. I hope they can keep the program as excellent as it’s been.”

For more information on White, visit www.lizawhitemusic.com.

A related link you can also visit is The Republican’s 2011 Talented Teens’ blog http://blog.masslive.com/talentedteens

In print and online at: http://www.masslive.com/living/index.ssf/2011/06/area_composer_chosen_for_festival.html

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Mizzou New Music Summer Festival announces selection of eight resident composers for 2011

Posted: Wednesday, June 1, 2011 3:00 am

An evening of Kentucky Derby-inspired fun and fundraising generated $35,000 for the Children’s Education Alliance of Missouri.

About 130 people decked out in traditional Derby attire to attend the alliance’s first Kentucky Derby Party and Benefit, which featured a silent auction and mouse races.

Those attending the benefit, held May 6 at St. Francis Xavier Church in St. Louis, included Bill Coppel, David Butsch, Allen Icet, Rachel Keller Brown, Kathy Fulton, Kat Cunningham, Judge Jimmie Edwards, Shonagh Clements, Eric Felty, Brad Wright, Keith Brooks, Angela Brooks, Tony Palazzolo and Kristin Lappin.

Peter Franzen, the alliance’s new director of development, was on hand to meet many supporters for the first time. The evening featured a presentation by board member Edward R. Weber III.

Tom Sudholt, who was the weekday morning drive announcer for KFUO-FM, was the emcee for the evening. The proceeds will go toward programs that offer financial aid and training for parents of children with special needs.

In Print and Online at: http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/metro/life/article_27c5806d-90d9-56db-8db9-9b35f9aa2f52.html

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On Air – St. Louis Radio Station Classic 99 Interviews Jeanne Sinquefield

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Afriky Lolo Presents its 8th Annual African Dance Celebration

Before we dive into the tips, let’s talk about the two common barriers to reigniting romance. Time is a major barrier for most couples so sit down and compare schedules before participating in any of these suggested activities. Even the busiest couples can usually find some time if they’ve got a plan. Doing so sends a message both people and to the kids, that your relationship is a priority.

Another barrier can be finding or affording quality child care. If you do not have family who can baby sit for you, find a friend (perhaps one who has children) and arrange to exchange baby sitting with each other. Some people even set up a cooperative baby sitting group in their neighborhood. (Or spend the day wearing the kids out then put them to bed early!)

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

Reflect on the things you really like or appreciate about your partner but often neglect to say. Write them down in a little note or on a decorative card and place it in an area where it will surprise your honey. (Like under a pillow or on their car’s dashboard). Everyone likes surprises so be creative with yours. You’ll be surprised at how romantic this gesture can be and what a positive effect it will have. If writing is not your strong suit just keep your sentiments short and sincere.

Share a meal together.

Dinners at romantic, expensive restaurants can break the bank. Try using the same concept but at home and not necessarily on a special occasion. The reason people usually like romantic dinners is because of the ambiance and the beauty of the setting. With a little planning, a few candles, a decorative presentation and some soft music you can bring the joy of fine dining into your home, especially if you leave the TV off and spend the time talking with each other. Some people make a regular once a month or even once a week habit of these “date nights”. If cooking is not your forte, order take out and serve it on your best dishware.

Get flirty and phone in your feelings.

Cell phones are a common part of everyday life. Use yours to send a romantic text message to your partner. It can be a pleasant surprise to receive a random message in your inbox. If your partner keeps his or her phone off during the work day, a message from you can be a great find during a break in the day. It can also initiate intimate moments later on!

Break a sweat together.

Some partners would however complain that they or their partner do not look quite as attractive as they did when they first started dating. Physical changes (for the worse) can negatively impact a couple’s sexual intimacy. Consider joining a recreation center and working out together. Working out might not be your idea of a great time but once you begin to see results, it can be rewarding and lead you back to romance.

Take a hike.

There is a lot to be said for the simple act of walking. Walking with your partner is a great activity because it can be a relaxing time to talk about life. Not only that, it is a great way for you and your partner to get fit. A brisk walk can go a long way in achieving your aims of growing more connected and healthy.

Get “Board.”

Board games are a timeless and inexpensive way of having a great time. Playing board games is a great at home activity that does not take a lot of set up time or require any expense. Pull the box out of the closet, set out some refreshments and have a blast. Another subtle twist on this idea is to play cards or put together a puzzle. All of these activities are a great alternative to watching TV.

Dream out loud.

Part of forging a healthy marriage is setting goals for your future together. Part of this goal setting begins with discussing your hopes and dreams for the future. This simple activity can be a great escape from your present financial challenges because it allows your imagination to run free. By building the foundation for your future you will draw closer to each other and potentially experience a return to former romantic feelings that can be easily overwhelmed during challenging times.