SEMO student composer Stephen Casey wins top honor with 'The Dear King'

Stephen Casey, a music education major at Southeast Missouri State University, recently won a statewide competition for best new musical composition with his orchestral work “The Dear King”.

This was awarded in the 2025 Missouri Composers Project (MOCOP), sponsored by the Mizzou New Music Initiative and the University of Missouri School of Music. The 2025 MOCOP honors composers in four categories for best new choral and orchestral musical composition. Casey won the 2025 Orchestral Open Age category.

Casey's journey into composition began with arranging music from video games, leading up to his first original piece. He hopes that each of his songs will tell a story and encourage others.

“I began my composition journey by writing arrangements of music from video games, eventually writing my first original piece, Danzamare, in 2021,” Casey said in a news release. “I have written music in a variety of styles and for a variety of ensembles, but the goal with every one of my songs is to tell a story. I hope to encourage future students just as my teachers encouraged me.”

The Columbia Civic Orchestra and Choral Arts Alliance of Missouri, under the conduction of Jeremy Paladino, will perform “The Dear King” at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 13, at Broadway Christian Church in Columbia. The concert is free and open to the public, offering an opportunity for the community to experience Casey's award-winning composition.

MOCOP, now in its 13th year, is a collaborative effort involving the Mizzou New Music Initiative, the Columbia Civic Orchestra, Premiere Vocal Artists and the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. The project invites composers from across Missouri to submit orchestral and choral works for potential performance. Winners and honorable mentions are selected through blind judging in two age categories: "open" and "high school". Each winner receives a $500 honorarium from the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation, along with a performance and live recording of their work.