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2025 Brock Prize for Student Composers Winner
“In effect it is this: that I love you” by Ethan Soledad
Brandon A. Boyd and Alex Canovas, co-chairs of the 2025 ACDA Brock Student Composition Competition, are
pleased to announce this year’s winners. The competition received a large number of submissions from a
talented group of student composers across our membership.
The winning composition is “In effect it is this: that I love you” (SATB and piano) by Ethan Soledad. Soledad
is a PhD candidate in Musical Arts in Composition, University of Michigan. The runner-up is “A Clear Midnight”
by Kahan Taraporevala, a PhD Candidate in Music Composition at the University of North Texas.
Congratulations to both composers. Special thanks to all who submitted your work. We are very grateful to our
panel of talented judges for their thoughtful evaluation and commitment to supporting the next generation
of choral composers. We encourage all participants to continue writing and to please submit again in future
years.
Bold, dramatic, with an exquisite attention to detail, Ethan Soledad (b. 1999) is a Filipino American compos-
er whose work aims to express emotions in their most raw form. His musical style is marked by unapologetic
expression, dynamic extremes, and the ability to do more with less but never shy-
ing away from doing more with more.
His music has been performed and recognized by organizations such as the Cabril-
lo Festival of Contemporary Music, Musiqa, Hub New Music, True Concord Voices
and Orchestra, DACAMERA Houston, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Se-
attle Chamber Music Society, and Chamber Music Northwest.
He graduated with his bachelor of arts in music at Florida State University (2021),
studying under Liliya Ugay and his master of music in composition at Rice Uni-
versity (2024), studying under Karim Al-Zand, Shih-Hui Chen, and Pierre Jalbert. He is currently pursuing his
doctorate of musical arts at the University of Michigan, where he has studied under Kristy Kuster.
About the Brock Prize for Student Composers
To further its mission to promote choral music and ensure its future, ACDA established the Raymond W. Brock
Memorial Student Composition Competition in 1998. The objectives of the competition are to acknowledge
and reward outstanding high school, undergraduate, and graduate student composers; to encourage choral
composition of the highest caliber; and to further promote student activity in ACDA.
The winner is awarded a $5,000 cash prize and complimentary conference registration at the regional ACDA
conference of their residence. The winning composition is performed at the home region of the composer and
may be performed at other regions.
CHORAL JOURNAL September 2025 Volume 66 Number 2 5
