About Rachel Moore

In 2007, The Choral Project sought to inspire the creation of original choral works and to spark new collaborations between performers and student composers. That is how our annual choral composition competition for high school and college students was born!

Ten years later, Marie Moore, a devoted supporter of the chorus and the contest, chose to fund the contest, which was then renamed in honor of her mother, Rachel Moore.

Rachel was one of 11 children. The family was quite poor and could only afford to give piano lessons to one child, but Rachel was not selected. Thankfully, she had the gift of playing by ear. She loved the piano and would sit down after hearing a piece of music, determined to figure it out on her own. She loved The Choral Project’s contest because she felt it gave young people an opportunity she never had.

A self-taught musician from an early age, Rachel became a beloved audience member at The Choral Project’s concerts. Though she was later diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, her love of music was one of the last things to fade. That love continues through The Choral Project’s annual Rachel Moore Choral Composition Contest.

Marie puts it best when she says, “In honor of my mother, I feel it’s important to support up-and-coming artists. My mother’s life circumstances never provided her with an opportunity like this, so I am forever grateful to have her love of music live on through this competition.”

2024-25 Winners
First Place: “Dreams Carved in Quiet Stars” by Brian Quan (Palmdale, CA)
Second Place: “Twilight” by Theasamantha Figueras (Tallahassee, FL)
Third Place: “so much depends” by Courage Barda (Bloomington, IN)

2023-24 Winners
First Place: “Elevation” by Caden Marshall (Cedar City, UT)
Second Place: “Rise, and Journey On” by Christopher Lewis (Carrollton, GA)
Third Place: “Rise Up” by David Zimmerman (Hilliard, OH)

2022-23 Winners
First Place: NO PRIZE AWARDED
Second Place: “In May” by Wesley Coffin (Harpswell, ME)
Third Place: “Quiet Night Thoughts” by Calvin Rice (Lake Forest Park, WA)

2021-22 Winners
First Place: “Anyway” by Seth Waldron (Newark, DE)
Second Place: “The Elysian Fields” by Brayden Carr (Round Rock, TX)
Third Place: “Windy Nights” by Frazar Henry (Bonita Springs, FL)

2020-21 Winners
First Place: “Breathe” by Coleman Peterson (Sioux Falls, SD)
Second Place: “Wait With Me” by Coleman Peterson (Sioux Falls, SD)
Third Place: “Oaks and Roses” by Anuj Bhutani (Houston, TX)

2019-20 Winners
First Place: “The Song You Sing To Me” by Justin Torzala (Appleton, WI)
Second Place: “Music to Hear” by Jonathan Madden (Northfield, MN)
Third Place: “Love is a Bright Light” by Kt Allenbaugh (Westminster, MD)

2018-19 Winners
First Place | TIE: “The Beauty of Cosmic Things” by Ethan R. Gonzalez Soledad, (Miramar, FL) + “When I Rise Up” by Benjamin S. Markin (Seattle, WA)
Second Place: NO PRIZE AWARDED
Third Place: “Daybreak” by Luke J. Gion (White Bear, MN)

2017-18 Winners
First Place: “Ma” by Kunal C. Gala (North Andover, MA)
Second Place: “Qazamat” by Hamid Alipor Shirazi (Bojnurd, Iran)
Third Place: “Dance of the Fairies” by Cathryn S. Davis (St. Paul, MN)

2016-17 Winners
First Place: NO PRIZE AWARDED
Second Place: “Run, Said the Sun” by Jonathan Daniel (Overland Park, KS)
Third Place: “For You Only” by Zoe Heflin (Parkersburg, WV)

2015-16 Winners
First Place: “Oom Ji Ji” by Benjamin Low (Brighton, MA)
Second Place: “Paris in Spring” by Douglas Byler (Dayton, VA)
Third Place: “Ave Maria” by Chase Shoemaker (Indianola, IA)

2014-15 Winners
First Place | TIE: “Incantation, Ritual and Dance” by Stephen Jackson (Abilene TX) + “A Prayer for the Future” by Jacob Devol (Richmond, VA)
Second Place: NO PRIZE AWARDED
Third Place: NO PRIZE AWARDED

2011-12 Winners
First Place: “Purple and Pearl” by Christian T. Martin (Cortland, NY)
Second Place: “Beneath the Wave” by Luke Flynn (Dubuque, IA)
Third Place: “Come To Me” by Matthew Emery (Vancouver, BC)

2010-11 Winners
First Place: “Grant Us Peace” by Stephen Feigenbaum (Winchester, MA)
Second Place: NO PRIZE AWARDED
Third Place | TIE: “The Western Shore” by Dale Sakamoto (Mission Viejo CA) + “The Dancer” by Nicolas Dahlquist (Lincoln, NE)

2009-10 Winners
First Place | TIE: “Pén Graté” by Matteo Giuliani (Bologna, Italy) + “Lullaby” by Daniel B. Elder (Athens, GA)
Second Place: NO PRIZE AWARDED
Third Place: “There Will Come Soft Rains” by Joseph D. Kelly

2008-09 Winners
First Place: “Song for the River” by Collin Martin (Coto de Caza, CA)
Second Place: “April” by Will Thomas (Rindge, NH)
Third Place: “October Sky” by Corey Smith (Temperance, MI)