Congratulations to Maxwell Kaye, winner of Orpheus’s 30th Anniversary Composition Competition! Kaye, a composition major at
Mannes School of Music, received a $1,000 contract to write a new work for Orpheus's 30th Anniversary Season. “Love’s Lantern” premiered October 25-27, 2024.

The chief aim of Orpheus's competition is to promote student composers and to perform their new and innovative choral repertoire. Orpheus received dozens of applications from students at conservatories and music schools across the US. All scores were anonymously reviewed by a 5-person judging panel: 

• Emily Koh, Associate Professor of Composition at the University of Georgia

• Pam Elrod Huffman, recently retired Director of Choral Activities, Southern Methodist University

• Shavon Lloyd, winner of the 25th Anniversary Composition Competition and currently a MM candidate in vocal performance at Juilliard

• Cody Conway, Orpheus Assistant Conductor

• JD Burnett, Orpheus's Artistic Director and Director of Choral Activities at the University of Texas at Austin. 

Orpheus’s next composition competition will
open in Fall 2025. Check back later this year
for more information.