First Brehm Prize in Choral Composition Awarded

February 2011

Joseph Kern, a master’s student in composition from Elizabethtown, PA, was just awarded the first Brehm Prize in Choral Composition for his CRUCIFIXUS, a work for four soloists and a cappella choir. The prize has been established to encourage the composition of choral works by SMTD students.

Kern was one of 15 School of Music, Theatre & Dance students to submit entries to the competition. “All 15 entries were terrific,” said Jerry Blackstone, director of choirs and chair of the conducting department at SMTD, who will conduct his U-M Chamber Choir in the work during the 2011-2012 season. “It was a great pleasure to listen to them and to play them, and I am thrilled by the number and quality of entries this first year of the prize.”

The prize is made possible by William (BS ’50, MS ’52) and Delores Brehm. Mr. Brehm, a composer in his own right and a lover of choral music, has had his works performed in concert at U-M, the Smithsonian Institution, and at Fuller Theological Seminary.