Mizzou is one of the nation’s top universities, as well as a global destination for new music composition. Our School of Music faculty are breaking new ground and receiving some of the most prestigious honors in the field for their work.

One recent honoree is Dr. Utku Asuroglu, assistant professor of composition. Dr. Asuroglu has just received several highly competitive awards.

Dr. Asuroglu was awarded a MacDowell Fellowship to attend a prestigious artist residency in New Hampshire. Past recipients include world-famous composers Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, as well as accomplished artists across disciplines.

In addition, he received a commission from the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress to compose a new work. He is one of only six composers awarded a commission in 2026. He was also awarded a fellowship from the Bogliasco Foundation in Italy for Spring 2027. Past winners of this international fellowship include Pulitzer Prize-winning composers John Harbison and Steven Stucky.

Previous honors for Dr. Asuroglu include a 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship, one of the most distinguished fellowships in the country. 

As we celebrate Dr. Asuroglu and the Mizzou School of Music, we also remain grateful for the visionary leadership of Curator Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield and Rex Sinquefield. Their incredible support has created tremendous opportunities for our music composition students and faculty to achieve excellence, including through the Mizzou New Music Initiative and the Sinquefield Music Center. Thanks to their commitment to our community, Mizzou is a nationally recognized hub for innovative faculty advancing their art form.

Congratulations, Dr. Asuroglu! I look forward to seeing what our School of Music achieves next.

— Mun