Commissioned Composer
Conrad De Jong, composer and professor emeritus, initiated the Commissioned Composer event in 1967 at UWRF's Spring Fine Arts Festival. De Jong's intention from the beginning was to ensure that contemporary trends in American music would become part of the repertoire of UW-River Falls music students.
61st Commissioned Composer: Inti Figgis-Vizueta
This year's Commissioned Composer, Inti Figgis-Vizueta, will be the 61st composer in our long-running program. Spring concert and residency dates to be announced soon.
Photo: Inti Figgis-Vizueta, photo by Lila Barth, 2026.
About Inti Figgis-Vizueta
Inti Figgis-Vizueta Bio
Inti Figgis-Vizueta (b.1993) is a composer and educator who works to reconcile historical aesthetics and experimental practices with trans & Indigenous futures. Described as an “ever-intriguing, rising new music star” (LA Times), whose “arresting…sparse, beautiful” (NPR Classical) work brings “a sense of true dramatic stakes” (New York Times), Inti has been commissioned and performed by leading artists including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, Oregon Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, New World Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Reflektor, Aspen Music Festival, Ojai Music Festival, Spoleto Music Festival, Kennedy Center’s Sounds of US Festival, International Contemporary Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, Wild Up, Roomful of Teeth, Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, Kronos Quartet, Attacca Quartet, JACK Quartet, Music from Copland House, Crash Ensemble, pianist Conor Hanick, violinist Jennifer Koh, and cellists Andrew Yee and Jay Campbell, among many others. Inti’s work has been featured at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Walt Disney Hall Concert Hall, Symphony Center, REDCAT, National Concert Hall (IE), Southbank Centre (UK), Philharmonie de Paris (FR), Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ (NL), and Konzerthaus Berlin (DE).
Upcoming projects include Rose Bond's 1968 for the 2025 Venice Biennale, a new work for Trickster Orchestra's 2026 TransTraditionale FESTIVAL, the NYC premiere of opera mad scramble for crumbs in Lincoln Center's Rubenstein Atrium, and new works for flutist Claire Chase, organist James McVinnie, and cellist Andrew Yee with Roomful of Teeth. Inti is the recipient of the 2026 United States Artists Fellowship, the Lotos Foundation Prize, ASCAP Foundation Fred Ho Award, National Sawdust Hildegard Award, Café Royal Foundation Music Grant and residency fellowships from Dumbarton Oaks, Civitella Ranieri, Juilliard Summer Percussion, and Music at Copland House.
Inti has held faculty positions with Luna Composition Lab (’21-’24), Wildflower Composers (’20-’22), Fresh Inc Festival (’22), and Atlanticx Composition (’21). She regularly lectures on her music with recent visits to Harvard University, The Juilliard School, Peabody Conservatory, and CalArts, among many others. inti has curated programs for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Green Umbrella series, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Current Series, CalArts' REDCAT, Wild Up’s Darkness Sounding, and American Composers Orchestra SONiC Festival. She was the 2024 Robert M. Trotter Plenary Keynote Lecturer for the College Music Society 67th National Conference.
Inti studied with Marcos Balter, Felipe Lara, Donnacha Dennehy, and George Lewis. Her mentors include Tania León, Nico Muhly, Angélica Negrón, Derek Bermel, and Andrew Norman, among many others. Inti honors her Quichua bisabuela who was the only woman butcher on the plaza central and used to fight men with a machete.
(Source: Inti Figgis-Vizueta)
Annual Commissioned Composer Project... Since 1967!
The Commissioned Composer Project, begun in 1967 by Professor Emeritus Conrad De Jong, is the longest standing program of its kind in the United States, putting a national spotlight on the UW-River Falls Music Department. Each year, student members of the Commissioned Composer Project select and commission a composer to write a piece of music for the student body, and arrange for that composer to come to the campus in the spring to interact with the students and take part in the premiere performance of that work.
Conrad De Jong is a highly acclaimed and accomplished composer of international renown. He has 30 published commissions to his credit and, since 1970, has received annual awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. In 1980, he was a featured composer at New Music America. His music has been performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Town Hall in New York City, and on the Today Show. Internationally, his works have been performed in Canada, South America, Europe, Australia and Japan. One of his numerous commissions, Variations on the Spanish LaFolia, has been recorded by the Dorian Wind Quintet on its Summit Records CD, American Premiers.
As a teacher, he was especially proud of his students' work in composition and their performances with the UWRF New Music Ensemble. He also takes great personal gratification from the establishment and continuation of the UWRF Commissioned Composer Project.
Commissioned Composer Student Organization
UW-River Falls hosts the longest-running collegiate Commissioned Composer Project in the US. Students participate in all aspects of the Commissioned Composer Project. Guided by adviser Patti Cudd, the composers visit campus and share a new work created for the UWRF music program. Students of this organization meet on a regular basis to plan, prepare and host the week-long residency in spring semester. Join this group of creative thinkers who make a difference in the world of music!
Past Commissioned Composers
- 1967 - Vincent Persichetti - CELEBRATION
- 1968 - Donald Erb - THREE PIECES
- 1969 - Chou Wen-Chung - YUN
- 1970 - Ross Lee Finney - THE REMORSELESS RUSH OF TIME
- 1971 - Barney Childs - WHEN LILACS LAST IN THE DOORYARD BLOOM’D
- 1972 - Mel Powell - SETTING
- 1973 - Stephen Chambers - SKETCHY BLUE BOP AND TONE PRAYERS
- 1974 - William Albright - INTRODUCTION, PASSACAGLIA, AND RONDO CAPRICCIOSO
- 1975 - Henry Brant - A PLAN OF THE AIR
- 1976 - Leslie Bassett - WIND MUSIC
- 1977 - John Cage - QUARTET
- 1978 - Richard Felciano - THE SEASONS
- 1979 - Barbara Kolb - CHROMATIC FANTASY
- 1980 - Edwin London - PSALM OF THESE DAYS V
- 1981 - Stephan Chatman - SCREAMS AND WHIMPERS
- 1982 - Sydney Hodkinson - ALTE LIEBESLIEDER (Book III)
- 1983 - Frederic Rzewski - SATYRICA
- 1984 - Fisher Tull - QUODLIBET
- 1985 - Irwin Bazelon - FOURSCORE
- 1986 - Harold Budd - ODD ANTHEMS AND STILL ROOMS
- 1987 - Morton Feldman - FOR STEFAN WOLPE
- 1988 - Libby Larson - BAC
- 1989 - John Zorn - RUAN LINQYU
- 1990 - Joel Chadabe - JAM
- 1991 - Mary Ellen Childs - IN EACH OTHER’S PRESENCE
- 1992 - Lois V Vierk - PLAIN OF SIX GLACIERS
- 1993 - James Fritschel - COME LET US SOUND WITH MELODY
- 1994 - David Revill - ORENDA
- 1995 - Jennifer Higdon - WILD MAN DANCES
- 1996 - Conrad De Jong - EARTH SONGS
- 1997 - Joseph Turrin - SOUNDINGS
- 1998 - Fred Sturm - RIVERSCAPE
- 1999 - Judith Lang Zaimont - PARALLEL PLAY
- 2000 - Jared Spears - LEGACY
- 2001 - Pauline Oliveros - SOUND PATTERNS AND TROPES
- 2002 - Anthony Braxton - COMPOSITION NO. 307
- 2003 - Christian Wolff - PEACE MARCH 9
- 2004 - Michael Torke - FOUR WHEEL DRIVE
- 2005 - Stephen Paulus - JUBILATE!
- 2006 - John Luther Adams - ... AND BELLS REMEMBERED ...
- 2007 - Lars Jansson - RIVER FALLS SUITE
- 2008 - Marc Mellits - PRIME
- 2009 - Julia Wolfe - GUARD MY TONGUE
- 2010 - Michael Colgrass - ZULULAND
- 2011 - Conrad De Jong - EARTHSONGS II
- 2012 - Cort Lippe - MUSIC FOR OCTET AND COMPUTER
- 2013 - Fang Man - CONCERTO FOR PIANO, PERCUSSION AND WIND INSTRUMENTS
- 2014 - Guy Klucevsek - LITTLE BIG TOP (SUITE)
- 2015 - Mark Applebaum - CLICKTRACK
- 2016 - Amy Williams - MISE-EN-SCÈNE
- 2017 - Jocelyn Hagen - CROWN OF WEEDS
- 2018 - Young Jo Lee - ENCOUNTER – VI
- 2019 - Alan Ferber - SECOND WIND
- 2020 - Nirmala Rajasekar - ELEMENTAL SPIRIT: RESPECT & RESPONSIBILITY
- 2021 - Evan WIlliams - SOUND AN ALARM
- 2022 - Alex Shapiro - FREE
- 2023 - Davor Bobic - AMERICAN CROATIAN TRIPTYCH
- 2024 - Jin Hi Kim - VOCALIZATION IN MOTION
- 2025 - Brent Michael Davids - OFF RESERVATION MURDER (REQUIEM FOR AMERICA)
- 2026 - Eve Beglarian - WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?
