What's New > 2026 NATS Art Song Composition Award winner is James Hurley
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The National Association of Teachers of Singing is pleased to announce James Hurley as the first prize winner of the 2026 NATS Art Song Composition Award for his work, “Confession and Other Lyrics.”
Hurley receives a $2,000 prize and his composition will be performed at the 59th NATS national conference in San Antonio, Texas, July 3-7.
“Confession and Other Lyrics” is a set of four songs for tenor and piano with texts by Michael Crummey:
- Confession
- Rust
- Devil’s Footprint
- Row
“Being named the first prize winner is certainly an honour,” Hurley said. “Michael Crummey is a poet and novelist from Newfoundland, Canada — the same place where I am from. Like most Newfoundlanders, I love this place, and as an isolated and historically difficult place to live, there’s a sense of togetherness that naturally occurs with the people there. I started composing art songs a few years ago by setting music to a poem of a friend from Newfoundland and then expanded the repertoire by focusing on poetry from Ireland. It was my intent to build an art song songbook with contemporary and classic poets from both these places as they are also culturally linked. A good friend guided me towards Crummey’s works, and as I started reading his novels, I was captivated by the vivid and gripping worlds he created. His works are rooted in Newfoundland and resonated deeply with me.”
In addition to thanking NATS and the committee, Hurley also wanted to acknowledge several people for this project.
“First, I must thank Dean Power,” Hurley said. “Dean is an Irish tenor and my partner in this project. His incredible heart and full dedication to how each detail delivers the text gives these pieces an exquisite finish. Tom Gordon, a dear friend, heard my first song a few years ago and implored me to do more. Without his encouragement and support, I can almost guarantee that I would not have developed these songs. To Michael Crummey, for sharing his works with me, it was a thrill and honour to be able to bring music to them. And of course to Olivia, my wife, who allowed me to work on the songs in all the in-between times — lunches, dinners, bedtimes, while the kids are bouncing off the walls.”
Pouya Hamidi received second prize and $1,000 for “I Will Greet the Sun Again,” a set of four songs for soprano and piano featuring lyrics from the book, Sin: Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad, translated by poet Sholeh Wolpé. David Jones received honorable mention for “Wild Birds Teach Us,” two songs for soprano and cello featuring text by Kim Stafford.
NATS is committed to keeping the composers and their submissions anonymous in the adjudication process as to evaluate only the music itself. Preliminary adjudicators Kurt Erickson (2020 winner) and Rene Orth (2023 winner) selected eight finalists from 54 submissions. Composers Tom Cipullo (2008 winner) and Jodi Goble (2024 winner) served as final adjudicators.
The NATS Art Song Composition Award, established in 1983, continues to inspire and encourage the creation of quality vocal literature. American composer Lori Laitman generously sponsors the first and second cash prizes, and she provides winners with a two-year paid NATS membership. The competition is open to any composer, professional or student, whose submitted work meets the prescribed requirements.
Recent past winners have included Raphael Fusco (2025), Jodi Goble (2024), Rene Orth (2023), Ericsson Hatfield (2022), Jeffrey Ryan (2021), Kurt Erickson (2020), Philip Lasser (2019), Benjamin C.S. Boyle (2018), Matt Boehler (2017), and David Conte (2016). All previous winners are listed on NATS.org.
Applications for the 2027 Art Song Composition Award open June 1, 2026, with a submission deadline of December 1, 2026. The program is led by Carol Mikkelsen, coordinator, and Lori Laitman, advisor.
2026 Winners and Finalists:
- First Prize: “Confession and Other Lyrics” by James Hurley
- Second Prize: “I Will Greet the Sun Again” by Pouya Hamidi
- Honorable Mention: “Wild Birds Teach Us” by David Jones
Additional Finalists:
- “Nothing Can End” by Cecilia Livingston
- “The Year” by Liza Sobel
- “Waking from Daydreams” by Kolten Heeren
- “Mass for One” by Suzanne Polak
- “Burning Bright: Six Songs of William Blake” by Zoe Yost
About James Hurley
James Hurley is a classical pianist and composer with a passion for improvisation. Originally from Newfoundland, Canada, he’s been based in Germany since 2011. There he produces concerts and workshops featuring artists from around the world in a multitude of genres at his studio Più Piano.
Since 2022, he has been active as a composer of English Art Song and has completed over 70 works organized in several major song cycles based on the great poets of Ireland and Newfoundland.
As a musician, he is involved in several solo and group projects, and he actively performs in Canada and the EU.
Follow him @jameshurleypiano.
About Pouya Hamidi
Pouya Hamidi thrives on sharing the miracle of creativity with other musicians and audiences alike. He was born in 1986 to the sounds of sirens over Tehran. At family gatherings his parents danced, guests played and sang. He started piano lessons at 8 and was soon improvising at the keyboard. When Hamidi was 12, his family left friends and family behind in Tehran, looking for a better life in Toronto. He studied piano and composition, attended the Taylor Academy at the Royal Conservatory and winning trophies from the Kiwanis Festival and the Canadian Music Competition. He also discovered the joy of collaborating as a performer and composer, pursuing a double major in composition and piano at the University of Toronto. He completed McGill’s Masters of Sound Recording Program in Montreal. He’s engineered and produced dozens of recordings, including Juno-nominated albums. Hamidi co-founded the Ladom Ensemble, a quartet formed in 2007 by U of T students. He is Ladom’s resident composer and pianist. Their playlist of original music fuses Persian and Western classical traditions, Argentinian tango, Serbian folk dance and progressive rock. They’ve toured across Canada and have released two albums. He’s written scores for independent movies and co-founded the Iranian-Canadian composer group ICOT. They have created over 40 new works, ranging from operas and ballets to orchestral, chamber and choral pieces. “I’m in awe of the power and wonder of music,” he says. “Collaborating, composing, sharing the stage with fellow musicians, feeding off their energy — it’s heaven on earth.”
About David Jones
David A. Jones (b. 1990) is a composer, hornist, and singer from the lush forests of the Pacific Northwest who listens closely to the forgotten corners of human experience and reveals them through music that is "dramatic, colorful," "expressive, evocative, and deeply emotional" (Oregon Music Teachers Association). His quietly energetic music draws inspiration from literature, visual art, dance, and his lived experiences, especially from his experience living and serving as a volunteer in the Philippines and his research on Filipino language and culture.
Jones was recently named Oregon Music Teachers Association 2026 Composer of the Year and 2025 Artist in Residence at the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts in New York. He was a Music Now Composition Competition winner at the Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival in 2023, a Susan and Ford Schumann Composition Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival and School in 2021, and a participant in the American Composers Orchestra’s Earshot program in 2016 with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra.
His music has been commissioned and performed by the Georgia Southern University Wind Ensemble, the Braeburn Brass, the Statesboro Chamber Orchestra, the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, the Bradley University Symphonic Winds, the Salem Symphonic Winds, the Prismatic Winds at BYU-Idaho, the Moody Center for the Arts, the Boniuk Institute for Religious Tolerance, Ensemble Hexnut, the Xelana Duo, the BYU Chamber Orchestra, and numerous other ensembles.
As a hornist, Jones has performed with the Oregon Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony, the Idaho Falls Symphony, the Aquilon Music Festival, and the Oregon Festival Chorale. He won the BYU-Idaho Concerto Competition in 2015 and performed James Beckel’s The Glass Bead Game with the BYU-Idaho Symphony Orchestra. Jones is currently working on a new album of music for horn and piano titled “Golden Scenescapes,” to be released in the winter of 2026.
An alumnus of Rice University, Brigham Young University, and Brigham Young University-Idaho, Jones currently teaches music at Linn-Benton Community College and has taught at Linfield University and Pacific University. Jones serves as Vice-President of Cascadia Composers and as an Advisor to the Barlow Endowment.
Jones lives in Salem, Oregon, with his wife, Brooklynn, and two children. When he is not composing or performing, he enjoys reading, playing games, and spending time outdoors. To learn more, visit davidajonescomposer.com.
Make plans today to hear the works from the 2025 and 2026 Art Song Composition Award winners live at the 59th NATS national conference, July 3-7, 2026, in San Antonio!
