Submissions for the 10th Annual Composer's Competition are now complete! Thank you to all of the talented composers who submitted their work for this incredible competition. We are proud to have accepted applications from all over the world, and winners from Venezuela, Spain, and across the United States. Winners will be selected by March 11, 2023, and winning pieces will be announced at Chorus Austin's Southwest Voices concert on March 11, 2023 and performed on next season's "Hear Our Prayer" concert and possibly recorded.Scroll down to see this year's winners, and learn more about our past winners here! 

If you have any questions, email youngcomposer@chorusaustin.org
If you wish to be notified of future competition dates, please join our email newsletter.
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For questions or more information about this or any future Composers Competition, please email composerscompetition@chorusaustin.org

Congratulations to the winners of our 2022 Composers Competition!

2022 Young Composers Division 

Winner: Stuart Beatch ​The Letter

Stuart Beatch (b. 1991) is a Canadian choral composer currently living in Edmonton, Alberta. He received a Master of Music in Composition from King’s College London, studying with composer Rob Keeley, and is currently the composer-in-residence for The Fourth Choir (an LGBT chamber choir in London, UK). Beatch previously studied composition at the University of Alberta and music education at the University of Regina. He is an Associate Composer with the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers. In 2016, Beatch was selected to participate in the Theoartistry programme at the University of St Andrews, where he was mentored by Scottish composer Sir James MacMillan. Later, he was accepted into the inaugural Choral Arts program at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, where he studied with the Latvian composer Uģis Prauliņš. 

​While Beatch has a special affinity for the Canadian choral community, his music has frequently been performed by ensembles across North America and the UK, including the BBC Singers, National Youth Choir of Canada, Pro Coro Canada, Chronos Vocal Ensemble, Elysian Singers, musica intima, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, and Choral Arts Initiative. His winning piece, "The Letter" sets a text from November 1958, written to British lawmakers as they debated the Wolfenden Report. This report formally suggested for the first time that homosexuality be made legal in the UK. Although this attempt was ultimately unsuccessful until 1967, with the passing of the Sexual Offences Act, there were many stirring moments in the 8-hour debate, including the reading of a powerful letter from an anonymous gay man. "The Letter" is the last movement of a larger work, "I am like many", commissioned by Senate House Library (London, UK) for their 2018 exhibition of queer texts, “Queer Between the Covers”.

Learn more about Stuart Beatch.

Runner-Up:
​James Arthur Guy Jr See Me

Born and raised in the bluffs of Memphis, Tennessee, composer/arranger James Guy has dedicated the past decade to honing his craft in ways that would be beneficial not only to himself but to other likeminded creators through meaningful partnerships. 

James received his bachelor's degree in music business from The University of Memphis in the summer of 2018. While he started out as an education major, towards the end of his time at Memphis James's passion for writing started to take shape. From 2017-2018 he worked as a student composer in collaboration with Blue TOM Records, the school of music's own record label, writing and conducting artist arrangements for both This Is Memphis festivals during those years. The last show James worked on at the university level was a Hip Hop Symphony entitled Music for Martin, written by a host of students to honor the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Guy served as one of the writers and also conducted the piece's premiere at The Cannon Center for the Performing Arts.

James has spent the past three years building a band program at Earle High School in Earle Arkansas. The young composer credits all the opportunities he's had to his band directors from middle school on through college and vowed that at some point he wanted to give back to the community that gave so much to him. James continues to write in his spare time and aspires to build a career in film/commercial music. He regularly submits to a variety of competitions and educational opportunities from choral, to symphonic and film. While the composer self identifies as a modern minimalist, inspired by the likes of Max Richter and Philip Glass, James is less concerned about how his craft is defined and rather that it makes an impact in this lifetime.

Honorable Mentions: 

Dylan Trần Self 
Robert Ruohola Grow 
Evan Blaché ​Let Us Speak

2022 General Division

Winner: Jennifer Lucy Cook ​
​They Are Mother

Jennifer Lucy Cook is a composer and lyricist based in Los Angeles. Jen specializes in musical comedy for the stage and screen, progressive choral music, and pop songwriting. Recent choral commissions include For You I Will Be An Island with Cantorum Chamber Choir, Time ​with Voces Ad Opus for Louisiana ACDA, and They Are Mother with the Utah Valley University Chamber Choir. About They Are Mother, Cook writes, "When I was working on the words for this piece, I consulted with my friend Reverend Alex Reegan, who is a trans man and interfaith minister, to create a text that embodies the energy of the feminine divine that is present in any gender."

Her theater commissions include Full House Theatre Co., British Youth Musical Theatre, and the Globe Theatre in London, and her musical recaps of the Bachelor recently went viral on TikTok. She earned a Master’s degree in Musical Theater Writing from Goldsmiths University in London and a Bachelor’s in Contemporary Music from Brigham Young University. Jen is mentored by renowned composer Eric Whitacre.

Learn more about Jennifer Lucy Cook

Runner-Up: ​Matthew Lyon Hazzard 
​​Si Se Puede

Matthew Lyon Hazzard is an award-winning Filipino-American composer, conductor, and singer. Praised for his “exquisite text-setting” and for creating “stunning landscapes of sound,” Hazzard’s music has garnered numerous accolades. He was named the winner of the 2021 California Choral Directors Association George Heussenstamm Composition Competition, the 2017 American Choral Directors Association Raymond W. Brock Student Composition Competition, True Concord’s inaugural Stephen Paulus Emerging Composers Competition, and several others. His music is performed by collegiate and professional ensembles around the world, including the Bob Cole Chamber Choir, the Metropolitan Chorus of Tokyo, the Choral Project, the Portland State Chamber Choir, The University of Washington Chorale, and more.
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Hazzard earned his Masters in Music in Choral Conducting (with Honors) from the Bob Cole Conservatory at California State University Long Beach, and his Master of Arts in Teaching and Bachelor of Music in Music Composition from East Carolina University. Before pursuing his graduate studies, Hazzard taught at Greene Central High School (NC) for four years. His choirs received numerous awards, consistent superior ratings, and were invited to perform on the stage of Carnegie Hall under his leadership. Hazzard is in his final year of the Doctorate in Musical Arts in Choral Conducting at the University of Houston, where he continues to write for voices. Learn more about Matthew Lyon Hazzard.

Runner-Up: Abby Gostein Da L'cha

​Abby Gostein has served as cantor of Temple Beth Shalom in Austin, TX since 2004. She is a published composer of Jewish liturgical music whose compositions have been sung throughout the United States as well as internationally. Several of her pieces have been selected for presentation at Jewish liturgical music festivals and at cantorial conferences, and she has produced a CD of her original compositions, entitled "Each Blessing.” Her composition, Vayarotz Likratam was performed by Chorus Austin at their Southwest Voices Concert in 2014.

​Cantor Gostein holds a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Yale University, a Master's degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Master’s degree in Jewish Sacred Music from the Academy of Jewish Religion California, where she also received her cantorial ordination. She lives with her husband Michael, and is the proud mother of their two sons, Daniel and Aaron, who make their own beautiful music.

Honorable Mentions:

Brian Story Courageous Messengers of Light 
Ludwig Tuman Cat's Protector

See our past winners here!

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Competition Requirements

Composer Requirements:

• Each division is open to composers of any nationality.
• Composer submitting to the Young Composers division must be no more than 30 years old at submission deadline. Composers of any age may submit to the General division.
• Previous winners, as well as composers directly related to the board and staff members of Chorus Austin, are not eligible to participate.
• Composers may apply to only one division.

Piece Requirements: 

• Written for Chamber Ensemble (approx. 32 voices)
• 5 minutes or less
• A capella or accompanied by piano (if a capella, piece must include a piano reduction)
• Can be multi-movements, or part of a larger piece
• Text must be in public domain or if copyrighted, the composer must show proof of permission to submit the piece.
• Texts other than English, Latin, Spanish, French, or German must be accompanied by translation.
• Submit score in PDF format, anonymously. Remove all names and identifying marks from anywhere in the score.
• Score must be legible and created with an engraving software

​Submission and Selection Timeline:

• Applicants are invited to submit a piece that fits into our 2023 concert: “Hear Our Prayer.”  The piece might have been performed, and self-published. We want to celebrate pieces that were written before the competition and are not strictly world premieres.
• Submissions will be accepted through digital submission from January 9th to midnight on February 19th, CST
• Winners will be selected by March 11, 2023
• Winning pieces will be announced at Chorus Austin's Southwest Voices concert on March 11, 2023 and performed on next season's "Hear Our Prayer" concert and possibly recorded.
• One entry per composer in selected category (young or general), clear, legible, anonymous, Software-generated PDF

Prizes:

• One winner will be selected for each division from the pool of applicants
• A runner-up and honorable mention(s) may be chosen, at the discretion of the judging panel.
• The winner of each division will receive:
  • $1250 cash prize
  • Two (2) complimentary tickets to each performance, if held live
  • Live recording of the performance of the composition
  • $250 Travel Reimbursement to attend the premiere performance, if held live (winner is not required to attend)
  • Opportunity to work with Maestro Ryan Heller and Chorus Austin Chamber Ensemble at a scheduled rehearsal before the concerts, either in person or virtually​
  • Recognition on the Chorus Austin website
• Runners-up in each division, if selected, will receive:
  • $500 cash prize
  • Recording of the composition
  • Recognition on the Chorus Austin website
  • Piece may or may not be performed live by Chorus Austin. If performed, runner-up will receive two (2) complimentary tickets to each performance, if held live, and a live recording of the performance of the composition.
• Honorable Mention(s), if selected, will receive:
  • Recognition on the Chorus Austin website
  • Consideration for future programming or recording 

​The form to apply for the contest can be found here.

​If you wish to be notified of future competition dates, please join our email newsletter.

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