KMTA Conference 2026

Guest Artist and High School & Collegiate Master Class Teacher: Jerome Lowenthal

Pre-Collegiate Master Class Teacher: Julie Bees

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Beth Klingenstein

2026 Commissioned Composer Award

Coming of Age, a song cycle for medium-high voice and piano by composer Rodrigo Camargo and librettist Caitlin Vincent, premieres on September 19 at the 2026 KMTA State Conference at Wichita State University. Camargo is the winner of the 2026 annual KMTA Commissioned Composer Award. The song cycle is 14 minutes long. Payton Boldt, soprano and Naren Palomino Pardo, piano will perform the premiere of the work. The performance will be followed by Q and A with the composer and performers. 

Rodrigo Camargo is a Brazilian composer currently pursuing his DMA in Composition at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. He is currently the recipient of the National Opera Association’s Dominick Argento Fellowship for Opera Composition. He holds a Master’s degree from Louisiana State University and a Bachelor’s degree from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). His music
has been performed in Brazil and the United States in venues such as Sala Cecilia Meireles and Carnegie Hall.

His catalog includes chamber and vocal music, orchestral works, and opera. Some recent highlights arethe operas Emily Somebody (American Prize 2nd place); A Song For All (commissioned by No Divide KC and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City); Lira dos Enganos (commissioned by FELINI – Festival Lírico de Niterói); Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (commissioned by KC Sinfonietta); the string quartet There Where I’m Not (commissioned the UMKC Graduate Fellowship String Quartet) and the “Pocket Concerto for violin and orchestra”. Other highlights are his EPs 5 Poemas de Fernando Pessoa – a song cycle for soprano and piano – and Two Duos, for violin and piano, and cello and piano, both available online and on streaming platforms.

Besides composing, Camargo is also the host, curator and co-producer of the weekly radio show “The UMKC Conservatory Hour” on 91.9 Classical KC, broadcasting recordings from UMKC Conservatory students, alumni, faculty and ensembles.

Coming of Age program notes