"One of the Purposes of the American Choral Directors Association is "to foster and encourage choral composition of superior quality." Each spring, the Wisconsin Choral Directors Association supports this important work with our annual Student Choral Composition Contest. Wisconsin high school and college students are eligible to submit their newly written compositions for consideration and feedback by the May 1st deadline. The winning composers and their works are then recognized at our summer conference, Refresh!, and their scores are made available to our membership for performance the following year.
Barbara Allbright is a composition and voice student at UW-Milwaukee, as well as a member of the Bel Canto Chorus in Milwaukee. She began her journey in music as a child, taking lessons in voice with Dr. Anne Richie and participating in choir at Brookfield East High School under the direction of Kari Doepke. In 2020, Barbara won the National Choral Award, recognizing her merit and contributions to the BEHS choir program as a senior with 4 years of participation. She also was a founding member of her Brookfield East co-ed a cappella group, Unaccompanied Minors. Through composing and performing, she finds community inside (and outside) of UWM, but especially with her fellow musicians at the Panther Catholic Newman Center.