Adrian Sterk, a senior at Lee’s Summit North High School, has won a statewide competition for best new musical composition for his orchestral work titled Winter Wind. Sponsored by the Mizzou New Music Initiative and the University of Missouri School of Music, the 2025 Missouri Composers Project (MOCOP) honors composers in four categories for best new choral and orchestral musical composition. Adrian won the 2025 Orchestral High School category.

The Columbia Civic Orchestra (CCO) and Choral Arts Alliance of Missouri, conducted by Jeremy Paladino, will perform Winter Wind in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 13 at Broadway Christian Church, 2601 W Broadway in Columbia. Admission to the concert is free and open to the public. 

“I am an avid lover of music composition and began writing music in my sophomore year of high school,” Adrian says. “I plan to stay local in Missouri and continue to write music after high school and hopefully make music composition my professional career.”

Now in its 13th year, MOCOP is a collaborative effort involving the Mizzou New Music Initiative, the Columbia Civic Orchestra, Premiere Vocal Artists, and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. Composers from across Missouri are invited each year to submit orchestral and choral works for potential performance, with winners and honorable mentions selected by blind judging in two age categories: “open” and “high school.” In addition to the performance and a live recording of their work, all four winners of the competition receive a $500 honorarium from the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation.

The Mizzou New Music Initiative is a diverse array of programs that position the University of Missouri School of Music as a leading center for the composition and performance of new music. The initiative is supported by the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation, led by Dr. Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield. Their vision is to create an incubator for the composition and performance of new music and to showcase Missouri as a center for the music of tomorrow.

For more information about the Mizzou New Music Initiative, and the University of Missouri School of Music, visit www.newmusic.missouri.edu.