University of Missouri graduate Nikolaus Schroeder has received a 2024 Barlow Endowment General Commission to write a new intermedia work for Kali Ensemble, a contemporary music collective based in the Hague, the Netherlands. Schroeder graduated from Mizzou in 2020 with a Master of Music in Composition degree.

The Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, one of the premier commissioning organizations for new concert music in the U.S., was established in 1983 through the generosity of Milton A. and Gloria Barlow and is administered by Brigham Young University.

Schroeder was one of 10 composers selected from 197 applications for General Commissions.

The award is for a new commission: a piece for chamber ensemble, interactive electronics, and video, of approximately 25 minutes in length. The premiere performance will be given by members of Kali Ensemble in 2026. According to Schroeder, the topic of the work will be the protracted economic and cultural death of the Rust Belt.

“I’m extraordinarily thankful to the Barlow Endowment for this commission, and for their support of adventurous and innovative music-making,” Schroeder said.

Schroeder was a Resident Composer at the 2022 Mizzou International Composers Festival, where his piece Contrapunctus // Song was premiered. Another 2022 MICF Resident Composer, Pascal Le Boeuf, also won a General Barlow Commission to compose a new work for [Switch~Ensemble], which includes Dr. Megan Arns, Director of Percussion Studies at Mizzou.

The MICF takes place each July in Columbia, Missouri, and features public concerts, presentations, workshops, and more. The festival selects eight resident composers through an application process to compose new works that will be premiered by Ensemble-in-Residence Alarm Will Sound. During the week, Resident Composers rehearse closely with the ensemble, give public presentations on their work, and receive private lessons with two Distinguished Guest Composers.  

Schroeder also said, “Much of my Barlow application materials came through opportunities provided by Mizzou and the MICF. The grant wouldn’t have been possible without these opportunities.”

“Niko Schroeder’s Barlow Commission for the Kali Ensemble of the Netherlands is another example of the national and international impact of the Mizzou New Music Initiative,” said MNMI Artistic Director Stefan Freund.

Schroeder lives in the Netherlands with his spouse and their two cats, Johnny Cash and June Carter. He is one of the few full-time artists to co-own a professional sports organization. (He owns stock in the publicly owned Green Bay Packers.)

For more information about Nikolaus Schroeder, visit nikodschroeder.com

For further information about MICF, the Mizzou New Music Initiative, and the University of Missouri School of Music, visit newmusic.missouri.edu/micf

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