The Notre Dame Magnificat Choir is pleased to announce the winners of the 2022 Liturgy Alive! composition contest:
First Place ($2,000 prize): Dr. Timothy Tharaldson (Atchison, Kansas) for his setting of Justitiae Domini Rectae for unaccompanied women’s choir (SSA)
Dr. Timothy Jon Tharaldson is the Director of Choral Activities at Benedictine College, where he conducts five choral ensembles, teaches private voice, conducting, and liturgical music. He is also the Artistic Director of the St. Joseph Community Chorus. Prior to his current appointments, he taught at Rocky Mountain High School, Smoky Hill High School, and Ponderosa High School in Colorado. He has sung with Te Deum of Kansas City and was a member of the nationally acclaimed Kantorei of Denver for ten seasons.
Timothy has received commissions from the Minnesota Sinfonia, Wartburg College, St. Cloud State University, Longmont Chorale, Kantorei, and numerous other choral organizations. His composition Rest was featured by the 2015 Colorado All-State Mixed Choir and was also the contest piece performed by seven different choirs as part of the 122nd Queensland Eisteddfod in Brisbane, Australia.
His compositions are published through MusicSpoke, Hal Leonard, and Santa Barbara Music Publishing. Timothy is a member of the American Choral Director’s Association, American Composers Forum, Colorado Music Educators Association, and the Kansas Music Educators Association. He holds degrees from St. Cloud State University, the University of Northern Colorado, and the University of Kansas.
Second Place ($1,000 prize): Laura Kazmer (Wichita, Kansas) for her setting of Justitiae Domini Rectae for unaccompanied women’s choir (SSA)
Laura Kazmer has been a violinist for most of her life and has played with several orchestras and chamber groups. A 2010 performance of one of her compositions by members of the Northeast Massachusetts Youth Orchestras helped to fuel her love for composition. Laura has now composed choral works as well as music for multiple theatrical productions, and her compositions have been sung in churches around Kansas. She has been a member of several choirs, including the first annual Catholic Sacred Music Project. She holds a bachelor's degree in music and theology from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas and currently resides in Wichita, Kansas, where she teaches music privately.