Composition Prize Winners announced

The St Peter’s Cathedral Music Foundation, and the Choir of Pilgrim Church, are delighted to announce the winners of the 2025 Adelaide Sacred Music Composition Competition.

The adjudication panel, comprised of Anthony Hunt, Director of Music, St Peter’s Cathedral; Peter Kelsall, Director of Music, Pilgrim Church; Andrew Georg, Cathedral Organist, St Peter’s Cathedral; and Rachel Mahon, Director of Music, Coventry Cathedral, UK; were thrilled to receive 26 submissions to the competition. Composers were requested to set, as a text for Advent, either the Latin text “Conditor alme siderum”, or the English translation “Creator of the stars of night”, for choir and oboe, with or without organ. The standard of entries across the board was generally competitive, and congratulations to all composers. All entries were assessed by the panel anonymously and independently.

The First Prize has been awarded to Tim Mallis, for his setting of “Creator of the stars of night” for Choir, oboe & organ.

Tim is an accomplished pianist, organist and conductor, based in Melbourne. He was Associate Director of Music at St Andrew’s Church, is the repetiteur for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and works with the Australian Boys Choral Institute and Yarra Voices. He teaches musicianship, music theory, composition and accompaniment at the Victorian College of Arts, and Camberwell Grammar, and also works for Opera Australia and Victorian Opera as a surtitle specialist.

Tim’s piece will be premiered three times in the season of Advent: by the choir of St Peter’s Cathedral, Adelaide, at their service of Advent Carols, 6.00pm Sunday 30th November; a few hours later by the choir of Coventry Cathedral, UK, at their Advent Carols service on Sunday 30th November; and by the Choir of Pilgrim Church at a TBC date during the season of Advent.

The Second Prize has been awarded to Charlie Wells, for his setting of “Conditor alme siderum” for Choir, oboe & organ.

Charlie Wells is a composer, instrumentalist, and singer currently in his third year studying a Bachelor of Music in composition at the Elder Conservatorium, Adelaide. He was the first prize winner of the Junior division of the inaugural ASMCP in 2023.  His other composed works include commissions for the Adelaide Harmony choir and Elder Conservatorium Chorale, as well as winning entries in the 2020 and 2021 Artology Fanfare competitions. He has been a member of the St Peter’s Cathedral music programme as a chorister from 2013 and as an organ scholar since 2023. He also performs regularly as a trombone player with the vocal group ‘The 60Four’ and as a singer in the internationally award-winning Festival Statesmen Chorus.

We are delighted that, through our collaborator Rachel Mahon, Charlie’s piece will receive a performance during Advent at The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Warwick, UK.

The adjudication panel also decided to nominate an Honourable Mention to John Rotar, a Brisbane-based composer, for another very fine submission to the competition.

The tradition of choral music sung by choirs such as ours is such a fine and rich tradition, precisely because it sings repertoire spanning 1,000 years of history. Nonetheless, it is important also to emphasise that it is very much a living tradition - music lists of choral foundations around the world are brimming with repertoire composed in the past couple of decades, and initiatives like the Adelaide Sacred Music Composition Prize are such important tools to encourage composers to write for these wonderful choirs, to be appreciated by congregations and audiences now and into the future.

We hope to be able to continue the Adelaide Sacred Music Composition Competition as an ongoing, biennial prize. We thank all those congregation members and community members who support music at St Peter’s Cathedral, Pilgrim Church, and at Coventry Cathedral, for playing their part in keeping this incredibly special world alive, healthy, and indeed prospering. Choral music, cathedral and parish choirs, are a unique and valuable resource where music, education and worship align in perfect harmony.