Coming Up in COMO: Editor’s Picks

How do you choose which events to attend, where to take your family for a memorable mid-autumn outing, or which concerts or musicians to recommend to friends? Here are a few events to check out, and be sure to see our entire online calendar for a full view of all that is happening in and around COMO.

Kremer shares insights from fifty years of race research

Gary Kremer, Missouri’s premier historian on the topic of race in the Show-Me State, will be featured at a public presentation on Tuesday, November 12, at the State Historical Society of Missouri (SHSMO) Center for Missouri Studies. 

Fifty years ago, Kremer, the SHSMO executive director, published his first essay on the African American experience in Missouri. He will discuss some of his most important findings from a half-century of research and writing about the topic of race. A public reception is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday with Kremer’s talk beginning at 6:30 p.m. The SHSMO is located at 605 Elm Street in downtown Columbia. 

Kremer has written dozens of articles and five books on the topic of race in Missouri, a publishing record unrivalled by any other scholar of the subject. He is the author of several books on George Washinton Carver, including a biography of the world-famous chemist from Diamond, Missouri, who made important agriculture discoveries and inventions. Kremer, a fifth-generation Missourian, earned his PhD from American University in Washington, DC. He has served as the executive director of the State Historical Society of Missouri since 2004. He plans to retire in the fall of 2025. 

Missouri-born artist also speaking at SHSMO 

Internationally-acclaimed artist and Missouri native Bryan Haynes will be the featured speaker for History on Elm at noon on Tuesday, November 12, at the State Historical Society of Missouri Center for Missouri Studies, 605 Elm Street. 

Haynes will speak about his forty-plus year career journey from commercial artist in Los Angeles, to becoming a fine artist developing a style that has been termed New Regionalism. As an artist born in Missouri, Haynes fills his sketchbook with Osage warriors, the first Europeans, and early settlers inspired by the history of the state. “Living in the hills that bump up against the south bank of the Missouri River, and spending time in the oak and hickory forests here, how can one not imagine the people that came before,” writes Haynes. Stories emerge as the drawings develop into finished paintings. Join Haynes as he invites the audience to join him on a visual journey, inspired by those early accounts, first encounters, and legends retold.  

The State Historical Society’s History on Elm series explores a variety of topics on the second Tuesday of the month at noon, ranging from Missouri art and authors to unique and interesting collections at the State Historical Society of Missouri. The series is free to the public and registration is not required. For more information, visit shsmo.org. 

Concert features four leading Latin American composers/conductors 

Four leading Latin American musical composers including Argentinian Conductor Martín Fraile, Argentinian composer and pianist Mauricio Charbonnier, Colombian composer Paola Márquez, and Venezuelan composer Víctor Márquez-Barrios, will be in attendance when their latest works are performed as part of the Mizzou New Music Ensemble (NME) concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, November 17, at the Sinquefield Music Center’s Sheryl Crow Hall in Columbia. 

Fraile is the Artistic Director of the Rio Negro Philharmonic and an avid curator of music festivals in the Rio Negro region of Argentina. Charbonnier is a composer from Argentina who has now written two works for the NME. 

Charbonnier’s new piece, Acrópolis, will be conducted and premiered by Fraile, who will serve as guest conductor of NME during the November 17 concert. The NME will also perform Venezuelan composer Víctor Márquez-Barrios’ piece El Duende Lunero and Peruvian composer Nilo Velarde’s work titled El Ayla. 

Fraile and Charbonnier will be in residence at the Mizzou New Music Initiative (MNMI) from November 13-17. Both guests will engage with students in rehearsals, private lessons, and Composition Seminar to share more about their musical ideas and careers. 

The concert is free and open to the public. For more information about the Mizzou New Music Initiative and the University of Missouri School of Music, visit www.newmusic.missouri.edu. 

‘Celebrating Veterans’ on tap at History & Culture Center 

The Boone County History & Culture Center hosts a family focused “Celebrating Veterans” event from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at 3801 Ponderosa Street. 

There will be hands-on activities for learning about Boone Countians who served in the armed forces both abroad and at home. Four Army veterans will be in attendance to talk about their service to the country. Also on display: Maj. Ernest F. Poff’s West Point trunk, which includes a West Point uniform and other items from the late 1930s. Maj. Poff lived in Boone County while pursuing a master’s degree at MU in the early 1960s.