I love finding and sharing great choral repertoire. These five artist owned SATB pieces from five composers would work well in a large number of choral settings.

It is important to remember to use your conductor’s ear when perusing scores and listening to recordings of these pieces. Not every recording is great, even though the pieces are. I have found many terrific pieces that don’t have great recordings by “cleaning up” the sound and imagining them as could and should sound.

***Disclaimer: I am not being remunerated or even asked to promote these composers and their pieces, but I do retail music with MusicSpoke, from which come two of these pieces.***

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Andrew Marshall
Piece: Jesus Is Mine (MusicSpoke: full perusal score and recording)
Personal Website: https://www.andrewstcmarshall.net/

“Jesus is Mine” is a very skillfully arranged Jamaican Spiritual that would be an exciting concert closer. The piece would work well for college or advanced high school choirs.

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Ethan McGrath
Piece: The Invitation (Swirly Music: full perusal score and recording)
Personal Website: http://www.ethanmcgrath.com/index.html

Ethan is a very talented composer that is consistently writing quality material. “The Invitation” is beautiful, and sets a compelling Biblical text dealing with the human need of rest for the soul. The universality of this need combined with a lovely setting makes this piece a great fit for variety of performance settings.

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Braeden Ayres
Piece: Song For The Prairie Sky (MusicSpoke: full perusal score and recording)
Personal Website: http://www.braedenayres.com/

This piece combines famous folk tunes, including “Shenandoah,” but in a very unique way. The effect is of a duet of two lovers separated by great distance, but singing to and longing for one another simultaneously.

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Vahram Sarkissian
Piece: Tribulationes (Sheetmusicplus: partial perusal score and full recording)
Personal Website: http://vahramsarkissian.com/

Here is a very meaty, meaningful, “wow” piece for an advanced choir.  I would say it is appropriate for college level and up in most cases. It has won a first and third prize in two composition competitions.

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Jennifer Durham
Piece: Little David Play On Your Harp (Swirly Music: full perusal score and recording)

This is a delightful arrangement of the Spiritual for SATB and piano four hands. It is fun and accessible, but not at all cheesy and would be interesting for choirs at a variety of levels.

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I hope this has been helpful and informative!

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