Previous Fissinger Recipients

2022 Competition Winners

JENNIFER LUCY COOK
Some Keep the Sabbath

Jennifer Lucy Cook is a composer and lyricist based in Los Angeles. Jen specializes in musical comedy for the stage and screen, choral music and pop songwriting. Recent choral commissions include Cantorum Chamber Choir, Opus Voices, and the UVU Chamber Choir. She is the recipient of the 2022 Chorus Austin Composition Priz and the 2022 Cantus Emerging Composer Award. Her theatre commissions include Full House Theatre Co., British Youth Musical Theatre, and the Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London, and her musical recaps of The Bachelor recently went viral on TikTok. She earned a Master's degree in Musical Theatre 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.

PAUL WINCHESTER
A Holy Night

Paul Winchester is a composer, performer, educator, and music director in Minneapolis, MN. As a composer, Paul's work has been commissioned and performed by the The Singers: Minnesota Choral Artists, The Society for New Music, the Ohio Shakespeare Festival, the Wooster Symphony, and numerous church and school choirs. Paul received his Bachelor's of Music in Composition from The College of Wooster and his Master's in Music in Composition at Syracuse University, where he was a Heaton Fellow and a recipient of the Brian Israel Award. Paul currently serves as the Music Director for the Unitarian Universalist Church of Minnetonka, where he leads the church choir, band, and orchestra, and regularly composes and arranges music for a wide variety of performers and ensembles. In addition to his music career, Paul is also a professional game developer. He is currently freelancing after working for 3 years with Fantasy Flight Games in Roseville, where he worked on the development team for and subsequently served as lead designer and producer for the product line of Star Wars: Imperial Assault, winner of the 2016 Board Game of the Year Origin Award. Paul lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Mo, their 3 cats, 2 dogs, and, very soon, their first son.

2022 Second Place Winner

PATRICK VU
On the Hillside

Patrick Vu (b. 1998) is an award-winning composer from Allen, Texas whose music has quickly gained increasing attention in the United States. His vocal and choral music has been performed across the United States by both professional and collegiate ensembles. Even in his short career, he has received commissions and performances from professional organizations including VocalEssence, Dallas Chamber Choir, Chorus Austin, Fort Worth Opera, the Savannah VOICE Festival, the Lubbock Chorale, and his music has been heard at TMEA, ACDA, SCI, and the International Trumpet Guild conferences. While Patrick remains mostly self-published, his choral music has been published by Gentry, Hinshaw, and Alliance. Currently, Patrick is pursuing his MM in Choral Conducting from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas under Dr. Alan Zabriskie. In May 2022, Patrick graduated with a BM in Music Composition and a BME Vocal Music Education from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas where he studied with Dr. Christopher Aspaas.

2021 First Prize: Joshua Fishbein

Title: Out of the Ashes of Holocaust

Dr. Joshua Fishbein composes and arranges vocal and instrumental music, with special emphasis on choral music. He has won awards from the American Choral Directors Association, the American Composers Forum, BMI, the Cantate Chamber Singers, Chorus America, Chorus Austin, The Esoterics, the Guild of Temple Musicians, the National Lutheran Choir, and several other music organizations. Professional vocal ensembles, such as Cantus, Chicago a cappella, The Thirteen, Volti, and Washington Master Chorale, have premiered Fishbein’s original music. Steeped in Jewish music, he has composed numerous Jewish and interfaith compositions for chorus and solo voice. Currently, Dr. Fishbein is an adjunct faculty member of The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Previously, he taught at Towson University, The College of New Jersey, the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Fishbein holds degrees in music from the University of California Los Angeles, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Carnegie Mellon University. E.C. Schirmer Music Company, Hal Leonard Corporation, Transcontinental Music Publications, Abundant Silence, and Yelton Rhodes Music publish his compositions.

2020 First Prize: Ian Shaw

Title: Where Is This Stupendous Stranger

Ian Shaw is honoured and delighted to be a winner of the Edwin Fissinger Composition Prize. Born in England in 1960, he studied at Cambridge University, where he was an Organ Student of St John’s College and a John Stewart of Rannoch Scholar in Sacred Music, at the Sweelinck Conservatorium of Amsterdam and, in a recent sabbatical year, at Goldsmith’s College London, where his research interests included the development of Black theatre in the United Kingdom and the value of stand-up comedy in prisons.

A first-study organist, his teachers included Peter Hurford, John Scott and Piet Kee. He was for nine years Sub-Organist at Durham Cathedral but for the last three decades has mainly worked outside church music as a conductor or pianist, in disciplines including ballet, music theatre and opera. He has a particular interest in new work, and has been involved in world premières of operas by, for example, Philip Glass at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden; Stuart MacRae, Lliam Paterson and others at Scottish Opera; Michael Ellison in Istanbul and Dominique Le Gendre in Trinidad.

He is a somewhat reticent composer. Where is this Stupendous Stranger? – dedicated to the Latvian flautist Alisa Klimanska – is typical of many small‐scale choral pieces. Larger works include Service of the Sacrament (a companion to Buxtehude’s Missa Brevis), an organ symphony The Temptation of Christ, an orchestral song cycle A Breath of Nothing (to the Orpheus Sonnets of Rilke) and incidental music for stage productions of Othello and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. .

2019 First Prize: Christine Whitten Thomas

Title: And I Shall Sing
Performance Date:

Christina Whitten Thomas’s works have been performed throughout the United States including at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Disney Concert Hall. Christina has received commissions from the Los Angeles Master Chorale Chamber Singers, the Golden Bridge, the Seraphim Singers of Boston, the Denver Women’s Chorus, Vox Femina of Los Angeles, the Esoterics of Seattle, Melodia Women’s Choir, the Middlebury College Choir, the Apollo Men’s Chorus, and the Vermont Choral Union. Her awards include 1st place in the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir competition, 1st place in the Los Robles Master Chorale competition, 1st place in the Park Avenue Christian Church competition, 2nd place in the NATS Art Song Composition Award, the Sorel Conductor’s Choice award, and the Sorel Medallion. Her choral cycle Choral de Bêtes can be heard on Musica Sacra’s 2012 CD release Messages to Myself. She is particularly committed to writing for the voice and is passionate about working with contemporary poets and original texts. She has collaborated frequently with lyricist Marian Partee, who wrote the text for And I Shall Sing. Christina has also worked with poets Jay Parini, Naomi Shihab Nye, Pam McAllister, Abigail Carroll, Hilary Miminguaquay, and Deirdre Lockwood.

Her music is published by E.C. Schirmer and Hal Leonard, as well as available through MusicSpoke.com. Christina holds a M.M. in composition from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music and resides with her family in Sierra Madre, California, where she is also an active teacher and vocalist. More information can be found at www.chrstinawhitten.com.

2019 Second Prize: Lydia Jane Pugh

Title: My Hiding Place (Psalm 32).
Performance Date:

Hailing from the island of Guernsey, Lydia Jane Pugh is an award-winning composer specialising in choral and chamber music. Her music's universal appeal has lead to performances by many groups around the world, including the 'Ebor Singers', 'Choral Chameleon' and the 'Empire City Men's Chorus'. A finalist for several awards, including the National Centre for Early Music's Young Composer Award (UK) and the Australian Boys Choir Choral Composition Competition, she was most recently awarded the Nathan Davis Prize in Composition at the Young New York's Chorus Young Composer Competition 2018 for her piece 'Adirai (Misplaced)'.

Alongside composing Lydia works as a professional singer, vocal coach and musical director, and was the recipient of both the 'John Owen-Jones Award', the presigious 'P.J. Proby Award' from The Voice College for the high standards of her work and has since joined the team as a tutor and online course content facilitator.

www.lydiajanepugh.com

2018 First Prize: Stephen Shewan

Title: Mother Goose Gems
Performance Date: March 17, 2019, 2:00 PM – Peace Lutheran Church

NDSU Challey School of Music is pleased to announce the winner of the 2018 Edwin Fissinger Choral Composition Prize: "Mother Goose Gems" by Stephen Shewan. Stephen Shewan has composed music for numerous media, including orchestra, string quartet, chamber ensembles, symphonic band, solo voice, choir and piano. His music has been performed by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the US Army Strings, The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, the Vrije Univeriteit Amsterdam Choir, and numerous other choirs, orchestras, bands, chamber ensembles and soloists across the United States, Europe and Australia. Shewan’s music can be heard on Music of Stephen Shewan, Albany Records (TROY149) The Road Less Traveled, Albany Records (TROY783) and Stephen Shewan Orchestral and Instrumental Music, Albany Records (TROY 1569). Shewan’s music has been broadcast on over 200 radio stations in America on NPR's Performance Today and on Exploring Music with Bill McGlaughlin.

Because Shewan’s father, Robert, was the director of the Roberts Wesleyan College Chorale for nearly forty years, and his mother, Nancy, conducted children’s choirs, it is no surprise that he has a deep affinity for writing choral music. Shewan’s “Silent Night,” for SATB choir and piano, was the winner of the 2016 Master Chorale of Tampa Bay Christmas Carol contest. The premiere performance can be heard at on youtube here. It has since received numerous performances and is now available in a version for choir and orchestra as well (Jubal Press). Shewan received the 2011 Robert H. Campbell Endowed Choral Composition Prize at the annual Choral Composition Festival at the Ithaca College School of Music for his “Musical Zoo.” Composer John Rutter wrote, “Stephen Shewan is a considerable composer who deserves a wide audience.”

Shewan is the co-founder of the Williamsville Poetry and Music Celebration, which received the 2011 Award for Excellence and Innovation in the Arts from the College Board. He is a founding member of the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) Composition Committee and the Eastern Division Representative to the NAfME Council for Music Education in composition. Shewan is a member of the American Composers Forum and ASCAP. He played horn in the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra from 1985-1992. In 2000, he received the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra/Erie County Council of Music Coordinators Award for Excellence in Music.

Since 1993, Stephen Shewan has been a music teacher at Williamsville East High School near Buffalo, New York. He taught music at Odessa-Montour High School from 1983-1992. He received a BS in Music Education from Roberts Wesleyan College, an MM in Horn Performance from Ithaca College, and a DMA in Music Education/Composition from the Eastman School of Music where his primary teacher was Samuel Adler. He is an active guest composer, conductor, pianist, and clinician. Shewan lives with his beautiful wife, Ruthie, his dog Jubal, and his cat Precious.

2017 First Prize: Jacob Beranek

Title: Our Rhyme
Performance Date: March 18, 2018, 2:00 PM – Festival Concert Hall

Jacob Beranek is the winner of the 2017 Edwin Fissinger Choral Composition Prize for "Our Rhyme." He is an 18-year-old musician from Oconomowoc, Wisconsin and a published composer, award-winning pianist, and dedicated enthusiast of Czech culture. Beranek has received many honors for his work throughout Wisconsin, the Midwest, and the nation, and is currently serving as the first-ever composer-in-residence for the Midsummer's Music Festival in Door County, Wisconsin. He is pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Composition at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music. His website is www.beranekmusic.com.

2016 First Prize: Nicholas Ryan Kelly

Title: The New Moon
Performance Date: October 2, 2016, 2:00 PM – Festival Concert Hall

Nicholas Ryan Kelly is the winner of the 2016 Edwin Fissinger Choral Composition Prize for his composition “The New Moon,” which premiered at the NDSU Concert Choir fall concert on October 2, 2016. Kelly is a composer who resides in Penticton, BC, Canada. Commended by the Vancouver Sun for his 'sophisticated work of such immediate, glittery appeal,' Kelly is an American-Canadian composer who draws inspiration from science, nature, and speculative fiction. His works have been selected for performances and awards by groups such as the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Victoria Symphony, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, and the West Point Band. His website is www.nicholasryankelly.com.

2015 First Prize: Joshua Hummel

Title: May Night
Performance Date: October 24, 2015, 7:30 PM – Festival Concert Hall

Joshua Hummel received the 2015 Edwin Fissinger Choral Composition Prize winner for his work May Night, text by Sara Teasdale. The work premiered at NDSU’s Contemporary Composition in America Choral Symposium during the October 24 concert with the NDSU Concert Choir.

Hummel is the recipient of various composition awards including the prestigious Frederick Fennell Prize and the Leonard Bernstein Award. His music has been performed in Carnegie Hall and throughout the United States, as well as Paris, Croatia, Perugia, Rome, London and Moscow. Hummel holds an M.A. in theatre and a M.Mus. in composition and has studied with professors from the Hartt School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory and Julliard.

Hummel has received several awards for his choral music, including the 2014 Loyola University Maryland Prize for Composition with his setting of God of Our Fathers. His wind ensemble music has been performed throughout the country by some of the nation’s top college bands. In February 2011 the Yale Concert Band premiered his Fennell award-winning composition, Haiku Symphony No. 4, in Woolsey Hall and Carnegie Hall. Hummel composes for Colors in Motion, an arts collective in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and owns Sinensis Music, a composition studio in Hartford, Connecticut.

Learn more at http://www.joshummel.com.

2014 First Prize: Paul Ayres

Title: The isle is full of noises
Performance Date: 2 p.m. on Sunday, February 8, 2015, Festival Concert Hall

Ayres's music is widely performed, with pieces commissioned by choirs, ensembles, schools, churches and individual musicians across the world. His works have been awarded prizes in composition competitions in Canada, Croatia, New Zealand, Russia, the UK and the USA. New projects for 2015 include a song-cycle and commissions from I
Cantori of Walla Walla University in Washington State and from Northern Michigan University.

Paul is the regular conductor of City Chorus and the choirs at London College of Music (University of West London), accompanist of Concordia Voices, and associate accompanist of Crouch End Festival Chorus.

2013 First Prize: Andrew J. Miller

Title: The Tyger
Performance Date: 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 6, 2013, Festival Concert Hall

Miller is an active choral conductor, clinician, vocalist, composer, arranger and educator in Bismarck, North Dakota. He earned his bachelor’s degree in vocal music education from Bemidji State University prior to receiving his master’s degree in choral conducting from Minnesota State University-Mankato. He has been teaching choral music in Minnesota and North Dakota since 2007 and currently serves as director of choral activities for Bismarck State College.

Miller was the founder and artistic director of the Minnesota-based professional vocal ensemble From Age to Age, which has performed at American Choral Director Association (ACDA) state and regional conferences. The ensemble was also featured in Minnesota Public Radio’s A Taste of the Holiday and Regional Spotlight. Miller currently directs a vocal chamber ensemble in Bismarck called Inspiraré andserves as the R & S Chair of Student and Youth Activities for the ND ACDA.

Santa Barbara Music Publishing has distributed several of Miller’s compositions, including If Music Be the Food of Love, I Carry Your Heart with Me, and Seeds. Hope Music Publishing distributed his piece titled Alleluia.

2013 Second Prize: Elizabeth Lim

Title: The Lark
Performance Date: 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 6, 2013, Festival Concert Hall

A Juilliard graduate, award-winning composer Elizabeth Lim wrote her first song when she was five years old. Since then, her music has been performed throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Elizabeth is an alumnus of Harvard University, where she graduated magna cum laude with highest honors. Last year, VocalEssence co-presented her choral work, The Tempest, during the 2012 Essentially Choral readings, directed by Philip Brunelle. Following the readings, Elizabeth received a commission to write for VocalEssence's WITNESS Concert in February 2013. Her choral music has also been performed by the New Amsterdam Singers, Ghostlight, Convivium, and the International Orange Chorale in San Francisco.

2011 First Prize: Nancy Hill Cobb

Title: When Music Sounds, text by Walter de la Mare
Performance Date: October 2, 2011

Nancy Hill Cobb is a composer, conductor and director of the Challey School of Music at Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana. Major published compositions include Thredony for chorus and orchestra (Hinshaw, 2004) and The Seven Last Words, for chorus and chamber orchestra (1988, Leawood). Her most recent choral publications are Titania's Lullaby published in 2010 and Invictus, set for release in 2012. Invictus was the third in a series of commissions by the Ohio State University Men's Glee Club. Other recent compositions include Opacity and Translucence, for horn and piano (2010); Suite for Reeds (commissioned by Trio Canna, 2010); and Three Psalms, for tenor, cello and piano (2011).

2011 Second Prize: Christian Martin

Title: Walls of Glass, text by William Shakespeare

Christian Martin is a senior at Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York and he plans to pursue a masters and doctorate degrees in music theory and composition upon graduation. Prior to college, he attended Arizona School for the Arts, was a member of the Phoenix Boys Choir, and performed in the All-Regionals and All-State high school choirs. Christian has also performed with the Temple University Singers, Arizona State Choral Union, and the Binghamton University Chorus. Walls of Glass is dedicated to Mr. Martin's grandmother, Madelyn Marshall, as she was the inspiration behind his choice of text and setting of the music.

2010 First Prize: Jeremy Bakken

Title: Ask Me No More
Performace Date: March 6, 2011

Jeremy S. Bakken was born in 1981 in Wisconsin, USA. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Music and Mathematics from Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee, and is currently pursuing a Master of Music in Composition and Choral Conducting from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Bakken specializes in choral composition and arranging; his works have been performed by high school choirs, church choirs, national conference choirs, and university choruses. His compositions and arrangements are available from several U.S. choral publishers or at www.jsbakken.com.