The Dale Warland Singers Choral Ventures™ program was designed to serve talented emerging composers at an early stage of career development, who had not received acknowledgement as established professionals by other musicians and arts professionals, and had had a limited number of major performances.
The entries were reviewed by Dale Warland, artistic director, and the composer-in-residence for the Dale Warland Singers.
Four composers were selected to participate in the spring Reading Sessions. Each was awarded a commission fee of $1,500 plus travel expenses, and was required to write a new 5-7 minute work for the Reading Session, a free workshop to which the public was invited.
Following the Reading Session, one of the four composers would be awarded a $7,500 commission to write a 10-15 minute work, either incorporating the music composed for the Reading Session or creating completely new material. The world premiere would take place during the upcoming concert season. Serving the Choral Ventures™ program as the national advisory committee were many world-renowned composers including Philip Blackburn, Charles Bruffy, Brent Michael Davids, Emma Lou Diemer, Frank Ferko, Adolphus Hailstork, Aaron J. Kernis, Morten Lauridsen, Stephen Paulus, Francis Richard, Gilbert Seeley, August Read Thomas, John Washburn, Chen Yi, and Judith Zaimont.
From 1987-2003, sixteen works were commissioned, each piece receiving its world premiere on a Dale Warland Singers subscription concert.
Choral Ventures™ finalists are listed below. Asterisks denote winners for each year.
1988
Mary Ellen Childs*
1989
Matthew Harris
Steve Heitzeg
Scott Lindroth
William Hawley*
1990
Alf Houkom*
Bun-Ching Lam
David John Olsen
Daniel Sturm
1991
Dinos Constantinides
Ruth Lomon
Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson*
Richard Toensing
1992
Jennifer Higdon
Margaret Brouwer
Jack Gabel*
Erik Belgum
1993
William Averitt
Brent Michael Davids
Janice Hamer*
Anthony Lis
1994
Anthony Kelley
Jing Jing Luo*
Eugénio Rodrigues
Philip Wharton
1995
Lisa Bielawa*
Anne Kilstofte
John Fitz Rogers
Eric Whitacre
1996
Edie Hill*
Charles Mason
Scott Robbins
Chris Swallow
1997
Mark Adamo
Frank Ferko*
Paul Siskind
Jerod Tate
1998
Cary Boyce
N. Lincoln Hanks*
Michael Hersch
Vera Stanojevic
1999
Andrew Bleckner
Alla Borzova
Jacqueline Jeeyoung Kim*
Peter Knell
2000
Kui Dong*
Anthony Gatto
John R. Muehleisen
Nancy Wertsch
2001
Elisenda Fábregas
Stacy Garrop
Charles B. Griffin
J. Aaron McDermid*
2002
William Beckstrand
Mark Kilstofte*
Huang Ruo
Felicia Sandler
2003
Luis Jorge González
Jay Huber
Martha Sullivan*
Frances White