Honoring our 2020 and 2021 CCDA/HEUSSENSTAMM Composition Contest Winners

The award winning composers received complimentary registration for the 2022 ECCO Conference, where their works were presented and lauded in a reading session with the full body of conference attendees. ​

​2020 Award Winner: Three Songs from Twelfth Night by Greg Lapp ​
​After teaching vocal music and music theory for 36 years in public high schools, Greg A. Lapp retired in 2020 from University High School in Fresno, California.  Mr. Lapp received his Bachelor’s in Music Education in 1983 from California State University, Fullerton where he studied with David Thorsen and Dr. Harold Decker. He started composing and arranging for his own high school choirs and other choral programs in 1987 and received his Master’s in Composition in 1990 from Fresno State University. Mr. Lapp’s wife Deborah has written lyrics for several of his pieces. They live on the Kings River in Central California. His music is available at GregLappMusic.com.

2021 Award Winner: Home Thoughts from Abroad by Kate Crellin
Kate Crellin (she/her) is the Choir Director at Mira Costa High School and Manhattan Beach Middle School. She has years of experience as a vocalist, conductor, composer/arranger, educator, and researcher. Kate holds degrees from the University of Cambridge in England (Masters in Choral Conducting) and the University of Southern California (BA in Choral Music & BA in Law, History, and Culture). Kate has taught pre-K through 12th-grade choir in public and private schools across Los Angeles. She has toured across eight countries, sang in the professional a cappella group Cape Harmony, and currently is on staff at A Cappella Academy. For more information, please visit katecrellin.com and @katecrellinmusician

2021 Award Winner: The Prow by Matthew Lyon Hazzard
Matthew Lyon Hazzard is an award-winning Filipino-American composer, conductor, and singer. Praised for his “exquisite text-setting” and for creating “stunning landscapes of sound,” Hazzard’s music has garnered numerous accolades. He was named the winner of the 2020-2022 Young New Yorkers Chorus Composition Competition, the 2017 American Choral Directors Association Raymond W. Brock Student Composition Competition, True Concord’s inaugural Stephen Paulus Emerging Composers Competition, and several others. His music is performed by collegiate and professional ensembles around the world, including the Bob Cole Chamber Choir, the Metropolitan Chorus of Tokyo, the Choral Project, the Portland State Chamber Choir, The University of Washington Chorale, and more.