2026 First-Time Editors’ Choice Honorees: Choral Composers

Editors’ Choice, one of our flagship services, represents the very best new music for every ensemble. The J.W. Pepper staff reviews hundreds of selections from a broad range of publishers, awarding only the highest-quality titles our signature red check mark.

It’s not just a helpful tool for teachers and directors—Editors’ Choice represents a major career aspiration for composers and arrangers! For the second year running, we’re featuring composers who’ve had one of their choral pieces chosen for the first time this year. Read on to learn about the selected works in their own words.

For more inspiration, check out our 2025 First-Time Editors’ Choice Composers blog!

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I found this text while looking for lesser-known spirituals. As a student, my love for choral music grew each time I had the honor of singing a piece from this genre. When I began composing, I wanted to find texts that had not previously been set to music. This led me to a collection of religious and secular songs titled Slave Songs of the United States. When I stumbled upon I Can’t Stay Behind, the text instantly spoke to me. I thoroughly enjoyed writing this piece from start to finish. It is a blessing to give back to an art form that has had such a profound impact on me.

Instagram: @nolawiarayamusic

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Instagram: @danielovesmusic

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We the People was commissioned by Worldstrides for their opening Carnegie Hall choral event celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. After struggling to find patriotic texts for this celebration, I turned to writings from our Founders as well as Emma Lazarus’ The New Colossus to find inspiration. My hope is that this work engages singers to consider our shared identity: that we can and must embrace our differences while insisting on our common humanity—“We are the same, we are different.” As we struggle with divisiveness, We the People urges us to return to the ideals upon which this nation was founded: the absolute rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all.

Website: aspenhillmusic.com

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This song is the first I wrote for a choral setting, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. I have been a singer-songwriter for as long as I can remember, a style that shapes much of my work in the choral world as well. I began composing in undergrad at Wartburg College and was extremely blessed to receive mentorship from renowned composers Kyle Pederson and Jocelyn Hagen to get this piece off the ground. Known describes that feeling of finding a safe place to land after spending so much time alone. It is lovingly dedicated to the Wartburg Choir and all of the amazing musicians who made the choir feel like home.

Website: gracebeckerartistry.com
Instagram: @gbeckerartistry

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During the earlier years of my career, I toured as pianist for the Norman Luboff Choir. I quickly grew to love playing Norman‘s arrangement of the Austrian carol Still, Still, Still. Norman greatly encouraged my choral writing and was the first to publish my early works with his company, Walton Music. Eventually, with his continuing support, my lady Almeda and I started our company, SDG Press. While writing my Anniversary Carols, I decided to include Silent Night and to echo Norman’s piano accompaniment in my arrangement. Still, Still Night was then presented to Walton as a thank you to Norman for all his help and direction with our publishing and writing. My current catalog includes over 400 compositions encompassing sacred and secular choral, instrumental solo and ensemble, chamber music, piano and harp solos, organ and piano concerti, and symphonic and band works. My entire catalog now resides with GIA Publications.

Website: berkey.com 

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The first time I heard Katy Cruel was during my introduction years ago to the boisterous and ancient English tradition of morris dancing. I had recently arrived solo in Michigan for a week-long camp for folk musicians and dancers and had no morris experience whatsoever. However, just three days later, I found myself in a rag coat, skipping down Main Street to the music of a tin whistle and an accordion. A crowd gathered, and we performed a dance called Tinner’s Rabbit, which involved leaping about in weaving patterns and tossing rather large sticks at my new friends. A subsequent dance called Katy Cruel was accompanied by a song rather than an instrumental tune. The experienced morris singer who taught it to me just absolutely wailed, and I was hooked. This arrangement is an opportunity for treble choirs to seek the same wildness in their own voices!

Instagram: @kstatechoirs
TikTok: @kstatechoirs

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Hashkiveinu is set to the traditional Jewish bedtime prayer, translated from the Hebrew text as: “Lay us down, Lord God, in peace, and raise us up again, our King, to life.” This song also serves as an ode to my father, Ben Burrows, the greatest man I’ve ever known. He was a devoted husband, a loving father, and a brilliant man gifted in literature, math, and the sciences. He spent his life fighting for social justice, dating back to the Civil Rights movement, but he also spent the last 20 years of his life fighting cancer and brain tumors. In his final year, the brain tumors stripped away his physical abilities, then his vision, and finally his brilliant mind — leaving him struggling to separate dreams from reality. Through the flowing piano accompaniment, stirring harmonies, and breathtaking dissonances, I composed this accessible and beautiful setting of the Hashkiveinu to encapsulate my experience, bringing to life the beauty in sadness and the power of hope. My father never lived to hear it finished, but as choirs continue connecting so deeply with this piece, his spirit lives on. 

Instagram: @Reuben.Burrows

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Facebook: @tyler.busick.5

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Based on a traditional Hakka nursery rhyme from Guangdong, China, this children’s choral work depicts little magpies flying freely through the mountains and reflects the joyful and carefree spirit of childhood. Inspired by the imagery of the nursery rhyme, elements of Chinese folk music and folk dance rhythms are incorporated into the melody. The piece is written in contrasting binary form, with a lyrical and graceful first section followed by a lively and cheerful second section. The use of percussion, body movements, and call-and-response between the voices adds a playful and childlike character to the music. With a vocal range of c¹–d², the piece is well suited to children’ s voices. The children sing the nursery rhyme in Hakka, giving listeners a sense of the simple and warm character of Hakka life and culture as well as the innocence and joy of childhood.

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Commissioned by the Connecticut chapter of the American Choral Directors Association, this work premiered at their conference at the University of Connecticut. Inspired by the powerful story of Joshua, this exuberant, gospel-infused original is an electrifying celebration of faith, courage, and triumph. Drawing on her experience as both a gospel artist and school music teacher, the composer has created a piece that grabs you from the very first note and refuses to let go! A driving opening ostinato immediately sets the music in motion, building anticipation as voices enter one by one and burst into rich, powerful harmonies. A contrasting verse offers a moment of release before the music surges forward, stepping into a brighter key and gathering even greater energy. The excitement continues to build until the thrilling finale, when the choir and audience are swept up in the music’s irresistible momentum. It’s joyful, powerful, and absolutely rocks!

Facebook: @lisaclayton123
Instagram: @lisaclayton123
TikTok: @lisaclayton123

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This is the piece that made me a composer. I wrote it when I was sixteen, entering my senior year of high school and already overwhelmed at the number of goodbyes I’d have to say in the months to come. This piece was a gift to my own choir, the Madrigal Singers of Grace Episcopal Church in Oak Park, Illinois. Now, a decade later, it’s my best-known piece. As it’s performed by choirs around the country, my sixteen-year-old self feels a little less alone.

Website: gracecoberly.com

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Lift Ev’ry Voice was born from my desire to create music that reflects the power of community, perseverance, and our collective responsibility to ensure that every voice is heard. My writing is deeply influenced by my experiences as a choral educator, conductor, and lifelong musician shaped by the rich traditions of the Black church, African American sacred music, and the expressive power of communal singing. I wanted the piece to feel accessible yet meaningful—music that singers could immediately connect with while still being challenged to communicate its message with conviction. The title intentionally echoes the historic call to “lift every voice” while expanding that idea into an invitation for singers to recognize the value of their own voices and those around them. At its heart, it reflects what I believe about choral music: when individual voices are welcomed, nurtured, and united, they can create something powerful, beautiful, and transformative.

Instagram: @maestromaster

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Written on a songwriting retreat with Oregon Catholic Press in collaboration with fellow composers Curtis Stephan, Francesca LaRosa, and David Rohrer, this song was born from a conversation about the profound connection between the Eucharistic liturgy and those who have gone before us into eternal life. As we celebrate the Mass, we are united not only with those around us, but also with the Communion of Saints and our loved ones who have gone before us into eternal life. This piece holds a deeply personal meaning for me, as it is dedicated to my son, Matthew Thomas Colson, who passed away at the young age of 18. Through the Eucharist, we can find comfort and hope in the belief that heaven and earth are united, and that in Christ, those we love are never truly far away.

Website: craigcolson.com

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Nead na Lachan was commissioned by LORICA, the flagship chamber choir of the Irish Institute of Music & Song. Their conductor, Dr. Michael Dawson, wanted a piece that could play to both contest adjudicators and concert audiences. Above all, he had a particular mood in mind, uplifting and playful. A rhythmic vamp underpins the verses, while the refrains are more polyphonic. The nonsense syllables “diddle-dee-eye” are hard to take seriously, so I stubbornly set them to some serious counterpoint. The middle section is a different tune, The Rolling Wave, as Irish traditional music is normally played as sets of several pieces. The tune fragments and builds up in layers before the conclusion, where I wanted to suggest an image of birds taking off and soaring away. My primary audience is the singers themselves. If I can write something they’ll want to sing together on the bus after a concert, or in a stairwell, that would be my greatest success. 

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Psalm 139 gets a charming calypso lift in this bright, bouncy setting written for a Dayton-area vacation Bible school. Scored for two-part choir, keyboard, guitar, and assembly, the piece invites full congregational participation on its joyful, singable refrain. Simple, rolling melodic lines and warm, folk-inflected harmonies make it approachable by young singers and assemblies alike. Equal parts catechesis and celebration, it’s a joyful affirmation of God’s intimate knowledge of each person. It’s ideal for VBS, children’s choirs, school music ministries, or any parish looking to bring Scripture to life through music.

Facebook: @ccosas

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Have you ever wondered about what led up to the eency weency spider climbing that famous waterspout? Well, this song tells the tale of this mischievous little spider who, like lots of youngsters, didn’t heed his mother’s sage advice. Eency is simply a fun song inspired by the wonderful children of a primary school in Australia, the Mooloolaba State School. The choir I had at the time (like most younger choirs) loved performing novelty songs where choreography enhances the lyrics and parts. With crisp unison lines, highly accessible harmonies for even beginning and younger choirs, and great humour, this rain-soaked escapade is sure to delight both choir members and audiences alike. Accompanists will also enjoy playing this mischievous shuffle with its infectious swing attributes.

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Living on the west coast of Canada I’ve been surrounded by mountains my entire life. At the summits, you can turn one way and see the full expanse of Vancouver or turn the other and stare out over the endless Rocky Mountains. This imagery heavily inspired the feel of I Sit Before Flowers. What can you glean from observing the smallest bloom or a towering snow-capped peak? I love writing music about the symbolism found in nature, so when I read Shane Koyczan’s poem, it really resonated with me. I’m so excited to be sharing our work with more of the international choral community.

Website: polarnova.ca

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Website: emilydrummusic.com

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Composer and lyricist Ruth Dwyer and collaborating artist Martin Ellis were commissioned to write a retirement celebration song for their dear friend Monika Spangler. Spangler is a 32-year veteran of public schools, an exceptional flutist, music educator, and conductor. I Hear Music is about the beauty, passion, hope, healing, and joy that become the heartbeat and breath of musicians throughout their lives. It says, “This is what we see, what we feel, what we breathe.” As musicians, we recall the joy, excitement, and energy of childhood when we first became passionate about singing, playing, dancing, and listening to our favorite musicians. As young musicians grow into adulthood, they may discover that music is a part of everyday life. It is found in nature, friendships, spirituality, and our hopes and dreams. Musicians, especially those who teach, are often fortunate enough to allow their inner child to continue to thrive through their music making. May the lyrics, vocals, lilting accompaniment, and playful flute inspire singers of any age to grow with passion, hopefulness, and a sense of adventure at every stage of life.

Website: ruthedwyer.com
YouTube: @ruthdwyermused5578

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These songs are inspired by modern bluegrass (“newgrass”) music. Together, they explore themes of determination, joy, and perseverance within new pop-choral sonic landscapes. Originally, both pieces were composed for choir and soloist with guitar accompaniment, but piano versions have now been released as well. I am ecstatic to share this guitar-inspired subgenre of choral music with the world, and I dearly hope that listeners and performers alike can enjoy the music and themes of these two new choral works.

Website: ericheastman.com

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After many years of collaborative composing, I was thrilled to be asked to write the piano and flute parts for I Hear Music. Drawing from my extensive library of organ and instrumental works for The Lorenz Corporation, I decided this celebration of youth and singing needed a larger-than-life treatment. The moderately advanced piano part is rhythmic with a lot of motion, all the while harmonically using Lydian mode for the cinematic lift which that mode provides.  Dedicated to a long-time friend, gifted teacher, and flutist, I was excited to write a rather intricate and more advanced flute part to accent the melody and choral writing. It is my hope that teachers and choral conductors will find this collaborative effort inspiring and exciting for their choirs and useful for concerts and festivals.  

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May He Hold Us is a choral benediction written shortly after our daughter was born. It is dedicated to dear friends who lost their own daughter minutes after birth. I immediately fell in love with the text’s elegance and simplicity, and the music fell into place naturally. Eternal Home is a lyrical setting of the traditional hymn text O God, Our Help in Ages Past, written for my former church choir in Baltimore. It is carefully crafted to be both accessible and artistically rewarding. Laudate is a concert piece commissioned by The Master’s University Chorale and Marius Bahnean, a dear friend and phenomenal conductor. He gave me complete freedom to go full throttle. I was inspired by the raw energy of Dello Joio’s A Jubilant Song as well as the colorful imagery of sky and earth woven through Psalm 148.

Website: enloemusic.com
Instagram: @enloe_music
Soundcloud: @christopher-enloe

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Eclipse tells the story of a group of people experiencing a solar eclipse for the first time—except that they have no idea what an eclipse is! The result is temporary chaos, since it now appears that their source of light has disappeared without explanation. This story is an allegory for the times when we suddenly experience darkness in our own lives; these moments can be excruciating, and at times it may feel like the light is never coming back. But darkness is always temporary; we just need to have faith that the light will return. This music was born through a commission from the Clyde High School choir in Clyde, Texas. I’ve always been drawn to darker, more serious sounds in music, and that is definitely on full display in this piece!

Website: christianfortnermusic.com
Instagram: @christian_fortner_music
YouTube: @christianfortnermusic

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After writing operas, oratorios, song cycles, and other large-scale works, this was my first song for children’s voices—and I had a lot of fun writing it! I had just finished a research project exploring why certain melodies get stuck in our heads and what makes music catchy, whether it’s pop, classical, or something in between. So I decided to put some of those ideas to the test. I wanted to create an accessible song with a tune children would love to sing, but with enough musical color and surprises to keep audiences engaged—and maybe humming it all the way home. The result is an energetic celebration of what music can do: lift us up, bring us together, and remind us that we’re stronger when we join our voices. With body percussion, optional choreography, driving rhythms, and soaring descants, it’s a joy for singers and audiences alike and can be adapted for groups of different levels and abilities.

Website: raphaelfusco.com
Facebook: @raphael.fusco.9
Instagram: @fuscoraphael

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A universal piece that celebrates love as the force that unites all people. As the lyrics proclaim, “Love is the key and is too the recipe that will bind together every nation, race, creed, and every color.” Because we are all a part of the human family, love is what brings us together in harmony. In 2023, my mentor, Dr. Joyce Garrett, was asked to lead a 1,000-voice choir for the World Culture Festival held in Washington, DC. She encouraged me to write a song for the occasion. Inspired by the choir’s diversity of cultures, beliefs, and backgrounds, I created a song that was inclusive, nonreligious, and uplifting. With a vision of unity and global connection, I composed Love Is What We Need.

Facebook: @roderick.giles
Instagram: @therodgiles

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Instagram: @gutierr1911

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Commissioned by the Ottawa Children’s Concert Choir, this piece was inspired by Kate Louise Brown’s beloved poem, The Little Plant, capturing the quiet magic of a seed waking to light and instinctively knowing it is time to grow. This journey serves as a tender reflection of children discovering their own strength, stepping outward, and venturing into the vast world around them. To complement Brown’s original text, I expanded the poem with additional lines to deepen its musical imagery—most notably, “Feel the music of the rain and the earth below.” Rain has always felt musical to me, offering a subtle invitation to pause and truly listen. Expressive yet accessible, this setting echoes that sense of gentle awakening. It is designed to nurture vocal artistry while offering young singers an inspiring, thoughtful exploration of growth, curiosity, and connection to the natural world.

Website: laurahawley.ca
Facebook: @laurahawley.composer.conductor
Instagram: @laurahawleymusic

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The lyrics of this song, originally in Cebuano, are about a provincial girl named Rosas Pandan going to the fiesta. Filipino musician Domingo “Minggoy” Lopez released the song in 1938, and it is now considered a Visayan folk song. This SATB arrangement has been the favorite piece performed by choirs internationally into the 21st century. George continues to arrange Philippine folk songs as well as Philippine popular songs to share the Philippine cultural arts with the world community. Additionally, George is an operatic bass and has sung with the San Francisco Opera as a chorus member since 1990. He has sung operatic roles with Townsend Opera Player, West Bay Opera, Bear Valley Music Festival, San Francisco Lyric Opera, and Donald Pippin’s Pocket Opera. He has sung as bass soloist with several symphony orchestras in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sung with the Redwood Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Mahler’s “Eighth Symphony” singing the bass profundo solo and as Pater Profundis in 1999.

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After stumbling across a video of my childhood friend, Hayden Roth, singing one of his own folk ballads, I was so captivated by the tenderness of his lyrics that I immediately reached out to Hayden to pen the text for my next project. What he sent back were the lyrics to the very same song – a gift for me to set as my own. I owe so much of the success of this piece to Hayden and his beautiful words. My goal when crafting this piece was to create something that singers both young and old could feel challenged by. The melody is simple enough for anyone to sing along, yet mastering it demands incredible nuance and sensitivity. It’s not the notes themselves that are hard – it’s what they ask you to do with them.

Website: kelkjeffery.com
Instagram: @kelk_cdj
Soundcloud: @kelk_cdj

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This work is based on a poem by Kim Sowol, one of Korea’s most beloved lyric poets. The poem explores the quiet contradiction between letting go and holding on. The repeated words “I forgot” appear to express acceptance, yet beneath them lies an enduring love that cannot truly be forgotten. In this choral setting, I sought to bring that hidden emotion to life through repetition, expressive harmonic colors, and subtle changes in musical texture. Certain words are repeated to reveal what the speaker cannot say openly, while altered harmonies deepen the tension between memory and forgetting. The piece invites singers and listeners into an intimate emotional space—one where love is not expressed through dramatic declaration, but through restraint, silence, and what remains unspoken. Through the music, I hope the quiet longing of the poem can resonate beyond its Korean origins and speak to anyone who has loved and struggled to let go.

Facebook: @pure.shy
Instagram: @composer_jo

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Website: bandungchoral.com
Instagram: @tommykandisaputra

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I wrote An Irish Blessing as a parting gift for one of Pembroke College’s organ scholars, Andreana, who was graduating back in 2024. As often seems to be the case (!) I came up with the idea very last minute and so wrote the piece about 24 hours before its first performance, our final concert of the academic year. Now it takes on a new meaning again as I say goodbye to Pembroke myself after 9 years as Director of Music. I would like to dedicate this to all the amazing singers and organists I have had the privilege of working with over the past 9 years: thank you for being a continual source of inspiration and joy.

Website: www.annalapwood.com
Instagram: @annalapwoodorgan 
TikTok: @annalapwoodorgan

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I wrote Here and Now with Craig Colson, Curtis Stephan, and my husband David Rohrer during a songwriting retreat. It was an incredible honor to be in the room with these gentlemen, and the song was born from a deeply personal experience of Craig’s. After the tragic passing of his son, Matthew, Craig attended Mass during the retreat and, in the Eucharist, felt Matthew’s presence with him in a profound way. It became a moment of healing and a new way to process his loss. We wrote Here and Now in Matthew’s memory, centered on the beautiful truth that in the Eucharistic feast, heaven and earth meet. The gates of heaven are opened, and we are united with our loved ones in the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. We hope this song brings comfort to anyone who has experienced loss and reminds them that we carry those we love with us, here and now.

Website: www.francescalarosa.com
Facebook: @FrancescaLaRosaMusic
YouTube: @francescalarosamusic
Spotify: Francesca LaRosa

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After years of workshop performances, this arrangement was finalized for a benefit concert featuring David Kim, Concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra as part of a community drop-in choir of children to be performed without rehearsal. The unique performance setting called for an arrangement that could be learned quickly and performed confidently while still delivering the energy and sophistication of the jazz-inflected accompaniment. The result is a lively, accessible setting that balances clarity with compelling harmonic and rhythmic color, allowing young singers to participate successfully in an engaging and musically rewarding performance.

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Vocal independence is a taught skill, and this is built to teach just that. This piece begins in unison, then sequentially builds into a full-texture piece that climbs toward an epic finale. The clusters build one step at a time, so the first dissonances arrive from pitches the singers already have in their ear. The mixed meters arrive the way speech does, as does the natural change from minor to major, so the climax is less about dynamics and more about the sum of everything the choir has already worked toward. Several all-state choirs have it programmed this upcoming year, and developing choirs have found real success with it too. The vocal writing is kind yet substantive and mature. The piece moves from a single voice to full texture, and the choir arrives at the end, having earned it. That’s the journey from darkness to light, from loneliness to togetherness, and singers feel the connection to their lives. “Find our song, and we will find our way.”

Website: chrismaunu.com
Facebook: @chris.maunu
Instagram: @chrismaunu

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Website: lukemmusic.com

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This Sotho folk song from Lesotho is upbeat and energetic. In the Sotho culture, individuals of significant social or political stature, such as kings, heads of state, family elders, or community leaders, may be referred to as “Tau,” meaning “Lion,” as an expression of reverence and respect. The lion serves as a powerful metaphor for authority, wisdom, and influence. Because such leaders are regarded as bearers of wisdom, their words carry considerable weight and resonate throughout their communities. Their voices are likened to the roar of a lion, which, in this context, is metaphorically compared to the powerful sound of a cannon. This arrangement for mixed choir and djembe captures the vibrant character of the song. Its energetic rhythmic language, characterized by syncopation and elements of polyrhythm, creates a compelling sense of movement and vitality, making this an engaging and exhilarating work to perform.

Facebook: @sabelomthembumusic
Instagram: @sabelomthembu

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I Will Sing! was originally written for Celebrating Grace as part of their children’s curriculum based on the theme “Finding Your Voice.” After being well received as a children’s anthem, they asked me to create an SATB version for adults. Inspired by Charles Wesley’s beloved hymn O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing, I wanted to create a jubilant, modern expression of Wesley’s text that would help singers and listeners engage with the lyrics in a new way. As I explored the hymn, I discovered a verse that is rarely included in modern hymnals, containing the beautiful phrase, “Had I a thousand hearts to give, they would be Thine alone!” That thought inspired my original chorus, which offers a personal response to Wesley’s text. The song’s final words capture its heart: “As long as I have breath, I will sing!” My hope is that I Will Sing! will inspire people of all ages to find their voice—and joyfully use it to sing praise to God!

Facebook: @priscillamurphymusic 

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Personent Hodie was originally written as a self-imposed genre-swapping challenge in my choral arranging class at UMKC! I found myself inspired by disparate corners of my experience as a college student, including multiple performances of the beautiful original work. I think my time with community theater pushes me to write what would be fun to sing as part of a musical theater ensemble—things I can dance to, and I’ll often dance as I write. One of the most unique and personal influences informing this arrangement is my love for video game soundtracks. Games like Celeste, Hades, and League of Legends have irrevocably built a soundscape of what “exciting” sounds like in my mind. I’ve sat through loading screens and pause menus for dozens of minutes to take in the atmosphere of music that often functionally plays when the audience is away.

Instagram: @michaelnavato

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Gang-gang-sul-lae is a traditional Korean folk ritual with ancient origins, performed by women under the full moon during Chuseok, the Korean harvest festival. The women held hands and spun in a circle while singing. This work is an original choral composition that reimagines the ritual through a contemporary perspective. Traditional Gang-gang-sul-lae follows a simple call-and-response structure with repetitive unison melodies. In contrast, this composition focuses on a full choral texture, featuring more lyrical melodies and rich harmonic colors.

Introduction: The piece announces itself with a commanding, powerful invocation of “Gang-gang-sul-lae.”

Middle Section: The tempo slows into a lyrical passage expressing an adoration of the moon and a deep yearning for a beloved.

Final Section: The final section speeds up with the lyrics “dwieonahboseh” (Let’s jump!), as tense rhythms and brilliant polyphony create a powerful climax.

Instagram: @Byunghee_Oh
YouTube: @Byunghee_Oh

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Bluestem: As it goes for many people, my twenties were a time of struggle, and I often felt lost and scared about where my life was heading. This piece is an expression of appreciation for the people who have made me feel like I have ended up where I am meant to be, and a message of encouragement that even though you can’t avoid hard times, there is hope that things will work out. Using bright and colorful imagery pulled from the nature and geological features of Kansas, an accessible harmonic palette, intertwining vocal lines that highlight every section, and a folk-inspired piano accompaniment, I have tried with this piece to capture feelings of freedom, peace, and joy. I hope those feelings connect with anyone who comes across Bluestem, and that they learn to believe that they will always “find [their] way back home.”

everyone i’ve ever loved: Anyone who has gone through major periods of transition – a move or a graduation – understands the bittersweet emotions that accompany those life changes. Suddenly, all of the people, places, and feelings of a time in your life are becoming memories, and the joy and excitement you have for the future are mixed with a melancholy nostalgia for the things that have shaped you into the person you are. A former student, MK Shultz, wrote the poem that inspired this song about their friends from high school and college, about their time in choir, and about the love and gratitude that remain when people are no longer in your life as constantly as they once were. Reading the poem was a powerful reminder to me about what is important in life, and I hope that this piece conveys the beautiful sentiment of the text. 

In Starlight: After spending most of my life training as a fairly solitary pianist, one of my favorite things about being adopted by the choral world is that I am constantly surrounded by colleagues and students who inspire me. These people, along with the poem Die Größe der Welt by Friedrich Schiller (the author of An die Freude, which was used as the climax of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony), are the foundation of this piece. The driving piano writing, syncopation, layered vocal textures, and soaring descant add up to portray the awe-inspiring vastness of space and encourage the performers and listeners to leap out into the light and follow their passions with the same unbridled enthusiasm that I have been lucky enough to witness in the people in my life.

Website: josephpiontek.com
Instagram: @joseph_piontek_music

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I wrote this arrangement while in my room during the Christmas season as I considered what I could create for the holiday. So, I began crafting this with a vision of a rhythmic and lively choral song style, aiming to add enjoyment to the choral Christmas program. This piece is quite danceable and presents a fantastic chance for a fun overture or closer to a Christmas performance. 

Website: linktr.ee/RobertoRabello

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Born from one of the most familiar sounds in the city of Aarhus, the bells of City Hall, this work draws on 500 years of Danish musical tradition yet places this inspiration within a contemporary a cappella setting. It begins with clear, modal textures before opening into an improvised forest soundscape and ultimately returning in a full-voiced celebration. I wanted the piece to feel both deeply rooted and freshly alive, bringing together inherited tradition, the sounds of nature, and the collective energy of singers. It was written to be sung by 300 children and young singers, so the level is adapted to that – yet it might be a challenge nonetheless. 

Website: jonasrasmussen.dk
Facebook: @choirconductor
Instagram: @choirconductor
TikTok: @choirconductor
YouTube: @choirconductor

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I wrote Midwintersong for my folky duo with Jean Rohe (Robinson & Rohe) to perform in an annual concert tour of wintery songs and carols. Each year, we curated a collection of favorites and new discoveries, from haunting ancient melodies to rousing singalongs. I always wanted a song that specifically honored the winter solstice, this celestial event and primeval celebration around which a group of holidays is huddled, like wintery pilgrims around firelight. For years, we taught our audiences Midwintersong by rote, in the folk tradition, and people would often ask where they could get a recording or some sheet music to bring it back to their local singing groups. And thus this arrangement was born. I hope it makes a wonderful addition to your December repertoire! 

Website: LiamRobinson.com

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Website: jakerunestad.com

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Home to You seeks to capture the often cyclical nature of the faith journey and its ongoing path of devotion, seeking/straying, and returning once again. I wrote this piece to honor the experience of all of my fellow spiritual wanderers – prodigals ever trying to find our way home. Quoting the William J. Kirkpatrick gospel hymn Lord, I’m Coming Home, which becomes a partner song to my own melody as the anthem progresses, is further symbolic of the homecoming theme, in that the tune is also an homage to some of my earliest theological and musical roots in southern Gospel. The flowing accompaniment sustains the melody and further complements the lyrical symbolism of what it is like to wander…and to be found and welcomed home once again.

Website: jonathanshippeymusic.com

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O Come Freedom was commissioned in 2024 by the Capitol Hill Chorale and premiered that same year in Washington, DC in a joint performance with Washington Revels. The occasion of the performance was a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Shakers in America, while also looking ahead to the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. O Come Freedom is a free adaptation of three Shaker songs transcribed from a manuscript in the Library of Congress: “O come freedom,” an unattributed song (c. 1840); “I love freedom,” a song from Enfield, Connecticut (1840); and “Freedom, freedom, pretty pretty way,” a song from Sabbathday Lake, Maine (1846). Shortly before composing O Come Freedom, I had the great pleasure of attending a performance by the American Spiritual Ensemble, directed by Everett McCorvey, and the joy and exuberance of that performance still rang in my ears when writing this work.

Website: www.kevinsiegfried.com
Instagram: @kevinsiegfried
YouTube: @Kevin.Siegfried

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I love inspired music that resonates so personally deep inside. Cowriter Craig Colson’s story about the death of his son reminded us all of someone we loved who is with us in the here and now at the heavenly feast we call the Eucharist. It became very apparent how thin the veil is between this world and eternity during the Mass. When you experience that, knowing the love that never ends, you just don’t want to leave. It’s a song the great cloud of witnesses is singing with us, and if you listen closely enough you can truly hear it. 

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This piece was originally commissioned for Voices Without Borders in Michigan for an international festival of singers, and this SATB version was supported by Dr. William Skoog at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. I used a poem by Julia Klatt Singer, who worked with me to edit her work and customize it for this piece. I love the idea that as we zoom out from something either in distance or time, the borders that partition the world fade, and we lose track of what divides us. This piece is about how one person can ignite a spark within us, and how that spark can allow our voice to be used in many different ways to bring light to the world. Singing is uplifting, and the buoyancy felt in singing can make our bodies elevate as we come together to create something magical. When we are brought together in music, we are united under a common passion, a connection that can be felt for a lifetime.

Website: timothyctakach.com
Facebook: @timothyctakach.composer
YouTube: @timothyctakach

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Toward the beginning of my time as the Chattanooga Girls Choir’s composer in residence, I met with choristers from their Cantilena ensemble to discuss what they would like me to write. During our meeting, the Cantilena singers requested several specifics regarding their song. They wanted a piece of music that included a flower, verses and a refrain, a sense of mischief, and a mysterious sound. The result is a delightful two-part choral piece with surprisingly deep poetry and a sparkling piano accompaniment. It is dedicated to one of my own conducting students from my work with UT Chattanooga’s Kodály Institute, who has an affinity for dandelions. She brilliantly suggested allowing the choir to make a wish at the end of the song. As is the case with all choral music, a vibrant community brought this song to life.

Website: sarahtullock.com
Facebook: @composerpoetsarahtullock
Instagram: @sarah_t._tullock_music

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This setting of Sara Teasdale’s Peace was commissioned by VOCES8 to mark their 20th anniversary in 2025. The poetry is lyrical and romantic, rich in natural imagery: first of the ocean and its tide, then of the stars and skies. The opening melody becomes a musical anchor as it recurs throughout the piece – a gentle, fluid arc that mimics the movement of waves. Like the text, the music is structured in three verses with parallel melodies presented in different harmonic and atmospheric guises with each repetition. The final line of the poem, which gives the piece its title, provides a tender and wistful ending, and, as the music fades, we hear the opening notes for a final time. I imagine the atmosphere of this piece to be spacious and heartfelt.

Website: lucywalkermusic.com

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