2025-2026 Daniel Thompson Memorial Competition Finalists

  • Shane Scott Cook

    Shane Scott Cook is a composer and musician whose work explores community, nature, and the queer experience. His eclectic background as a classical percussionist, jazz vocalist/drummer, and folk and musical theater enthusiast shapes his unique musical voice. He served as Teaching Artist-in-Residence at the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music (2023-25), Composer-in-Residence for Del Sol Quartet’s ChamberFest (2025), and Sounds Promising Young Composer Fellow with Salastina (2024). Additionally, his works have been commissioned and awarded prizes by Stare at the Sun, Akropolis Reed Quintet, Quintet Attacca, The Capitol Hearings, and more. Shane begins doctoral studies in composition at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in fall of 2025.

    Learn more about Shane at www.shanescottcook.com.

  • PJ Mooney

    PJ Mooney is a composer, vocalist, and collaborator whose work explores story-driven narratives, theatricality, social issues, and the queer experience. With a focus on interdisciplinary and collaborative creation, PJ has worked with visual artists, poets, filmmakers, scientists, and healthcare and social workers. Recently, his work has centered on music as a form of journalism, crafting compositions that address urgent social and environmental issues while serving as tools for education, dialogue, and community engagement.

    PJ is currently pursuing a master’s degree in composition at the University of North Texas.

    Learn more about PJ at www.pjmooneymusic.com.

  • Matthew Marcus

    Matthew Marcus is a composer, performer, and music director based in Nashville, TN. He recently graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a minor in Music Composition. Matthew’s work is featured on Choral Chameleon’s 2024 album CHANGING, and he is a winner of the NCMEA’s Young Composers Showcase award.

    Learn more about Matthew at www.matthewmarcusmusic.com.

Honorable Mention

Our finalists will be writing new works for our Mixed Ensemble, which will be premiered at our Spring 2026 concert, Quarter Time.

New York, NY– April 22, 2025 — The Young New Yorkers’ Chorus (YNYC), esteemed choral nonprofit and leading advocate for new choral music, has renamed its long-running annual competition for emerging composers as The Daniel Thompson Memorial Competition for Young Composers. This renaming honors YNYC’s late Board President Daniel Thompson and is made possible by a generous $50,000 endowment from the Thompson family. The competition’s new name represents not only an investment in the competition’s future, but also honors Thompson’s own championing of new music and contribution to the organization during his tenure as a leader and member.

“Daniel was an essential part of the YNYC community,” said YNYC General & Artistic Director Alex Canovas. “The Competition for Young Composers has been a defining part of YNYC for almost our entire history, and this astoundingly generous gift from the Thompson family in Daniel's memory will allow us to continue to commission and premiere new music by the most unique and compelling emerging voices in our field—work that was very near and dear to Daniel's heart. It gives me great joy to pay tribute to him through naming the competition in his memory and honor.”

Established in 2004, the highly respected YNYC Competition for Young Composers has commissioned and premiered 57 original works from composers under 35. In its 20 iterations, it has left an indelible impact on the contemporary choral world, giving an early-career platform to accomplished composers including Jake Runestad, Dale Trumbore, Ola Gjeilo, Sydney Guillaume, Jocelyn Hagen, and Matthew Lyon Hazzard, among others. 

The 2025 finalists for the Daniel Thompson Memorial Competition for Young Composers will have their works premiered at the YNYC Treble Ensemble’s spring concert, To the East, Saturday, May 10, at 7:30 p.m. at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Manhattan. The winner will be announced at the concert’s conclusion. 

For media inquiries, please contact Lucy Mayer at lucy@ynyc.org.

About Daniel Thompson

In April 2025, our competition was renamed as The Daniel Thompson Memorial Competition for Young Composers, in honor of our former Board President, Daniel Thompson, who tragically passed away in a helicopter crash in 2018. The renaming was made possible by a generous $50,000 endowment from the Thompson family.

A native of Springfield, IL, Daniel graduated from Butler University in 2006 with a degree in arts management. He moved to New York in 2008 and joined YNYC soon after. Not long after that, he joined the Board of Directors, and became an integral part of growing YNYC, helping to achieve its mission of bringing innovative choral music to new audiences. He became Board President in 2016 and tirelessly continued working to support YNYC.

Daniel was very close with members of both YNYC Ensembles. He loved his friends unconditionally and was always there – at any hour of the day or night. He was passionate and kind, and was always someone to lean on. He had a mighty voice, as well as a mighty heart.

Past Winners & Finalists

  • Under the city - Courage Barda (Winner)

    My Spirit Sings - Jadie Douglass Reeves

    The Painter on Silk - Sam Wu

  • I Had No Time To Hate - Jeffrey Derus (Winner)

    In effect it is this: that I love you - Ethan Soledad

    Be Still, My Beating Heart - Adrian Wong

  • Stars like goldfish - Hilary Purrington (Winner)

    The Orange (Simple Gifts) - Isaac Lovdahl

    Flower Chant - Gala Flagello

  • Metropolis - Matthew Lyon Hazzard (Winner)

    a riddle in steel and stone - Daniel Reza Sabzghabaei (دانیال رضا سبزقبایی)

    I Would Have You All - Grace Oberhofer

  • When I Rise Up Above The Earth - Scott Senko (Winner)

    Shatter - Lauren Bydalek

    No Coward Soul - Sawyer Denton

  • Adiraï (Misplaced) - Lydia Pugh (Winner)

    The Rocky Road to Dublin - Casey Rule

    Keep Going - Ed Fraizer Davis

  • Unwatch’d - Alexander Campkin (Winner)

    Two Butterflies Went Out At Noon - Grace Ann Lee

    Found - Andrey Stolyarov

  • A Little Space - Connor Koppin (Winner)

    In The Middle - Dale Trumbore

    Humans Of - Matthew Recio

  • Ashes of Roses - Erik DeLong (Winner)

    The Hushed House - Luke Flynn

    Invitation to Love - Sarah Horick

  • The Peace of Wild Things - Jake Runestad (Winner)

    Infinite Worlds - Jason Michael Saunders

    Peace at the Last - Joe Twist

  • Trees Need Not Walk the Earth - Jocelyn Hagen (Winner)

    I Long to See - Colin Britt

    Afternoon on a Hill - Joshua Fishbein

  • Sing oh my Heart - John Paul Rudoi (Winner)

    Ring Out, Wild Bells - Marie Incontrera

    Thy Perfect Light - Robert Vuichard

  • Day and Night, Night and Day - Izzy Gliksberg (Winner)

    Iucunda Lux - Daniel Knaggs

    Forever is Composed of Nows - Joseph N. Rubenstein

  • Four Haiku - Robert Honstein (Winner)

    The Giver of Stars - Jenni Brandon

    Into Infinity - Ola Gjeilo

  • Sitio - Dominick DiOrio (Winner)

    The Sea of Sunset - Ryan Homsey

    Haiku Sketches - Alastair Stout

  • O Nata Lux - Rob Teehan (Winner)

    O Ecclesia - Matthew Brown

    Sleeping at Last - Zachary Wadsworth

  • Sleeping out: Full Moon - Joshua Shank (Winner)

    On the Beach at Night - Johnathan Kolm

    Inaabid - Daniel Nass

  • Venus’ Lament - Eric William Barnum (Winner)

    Come Away, Death - Brian A. Schmidt

    Titania’s Lullaby - Timothy C. Takach

  • The Music Which Is Divine - Peter Hilliard (Winner)

    Anmwe - Sydney Guillaume

    In Sunshine and Freedom - Abbie Betinis