HerVoice competition winners (l. to r.): Allyson Harvel, Joan Johnson Drewes, and Meredith Tompkins.
CHICAGO — Chicago a cappella is thrilled to unveil the winners of the organization’s 2025 “HerVoice” competition and mentorship program, showcasing the talents of emerging women composers. Now in its fifth year, the program once again received an overwhelming response, with 64 submissions from composers in 12 countries.
The winners will each receive personal mentoring from one of the program’s acclaimed composer panelists, Stacy Garrop, Zanaida Robles, and Chen Yi. The winners will also receive a $500 cash award. Each piece will be workshopped and performed by either Chicago a cappella under the direction of artistic director John William Trotter, who created the program; the Vancouver Youth Choir under the direction of artistic director Carrie Tennant; or the Santa Fe Desert Chorale under the direction of artistic director Joshua Habermann.
The 2025 winners are:
Allyson Harvel, Graham, NC
Harvel’s composition Because I Could Not Stop For Death will be workshopped and performed by The Santa Fe Desert Chorale in the summer of 2027, and she will work with mentor composer Stacy Garrop.
Allyson C. Harvel (b. 2001) is a composer and conductor based in Greensboro, North Carolina, who strives to create resonant and emotionally impactful music. Originally from Pinehurst, North Carolina, she spent her childhood and adolescence immersed in a variety school and community choirs, which influenced her compositional voice and love for choral music.
Her music has been performed by ensembles such as the Davidson College Chamber Singers and Present Continuous. Inspired by the brilliant female composers of today, she blends lush harmonies with accessible voicing, connecting singers and audiences alike.
Allyson holds a B.A. in Music from Davidson College and is currently pursuing graduate studies in Composition and Choral Conducting at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Joan Johnson Drewes, West Babylon, NY
Johnson Drewes’ composition I AM – The Song of Myself will be workshopped and performed by Chicago a cappella, and she will work with mentor composer Chen Yi.
Joan was born into a musical family in Iowa. She sang her first solo at age 5 and began writing and arranging while still in high school. She then attended Berklee College of Music in Boston where she majored in Composition and Voice Performance, graduating with a Bachelor of Music. During her undergraduate career, she composed for and performed with many ensembles, including two concerts of original music at the Berklee Performance Center with her jazz quintet,
“Moon, No Stars.”
After graduating from Berklee, Joan lived in Germany and performed as a vocalist, composer and arranger with multiple jazz groups touring throughout Europe. During her time in Europe she worked as a studio artist, recording commercials and jingles for TV & radio in addition to teaching private voice and music theory at the Music School Neukolln in Berlin. While there, she recorded Wings Of Spring featuring her vocal talents and four of her original compositions. Joan
returned to the US in 1980, and further pursued her career in New York City. By 1982 she was intricately involved in a new music program at Washington Square Church and wrote many pieces for the concert series including works for Jazz Ensembles, Vocal Yoga Improvisations and SATB choral works. She was an Assistant to the Professor for “Creative Play in the Arts” at NYU, where she also studied music therapy. In 1989, Joan recorded with the Urban Earth Band on their album, Full Moon Dancer which spotlighted her vocals and two original compositions.
In 1992, Joan moved to Long Island and received her Master of Science in Education from Hofstra University. She became passionate about the Dalcroze Pedagogy and studied with Robert Abramson at The Juilliard School. She went on to teach music and chorus in the Farmingdale, NY School District for 20 years, while raising two daughters.
Joan began seriously composing again in 2014 when she joined the eVoco Voice Collective under the direction of Dr. David Fryling . Now retired from teaching, Joan dedicates her time to composing. She is a former member of the eVoco Voice Collective Board of Directors, and an active member of the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA) and the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). Four of her pieces, (Tacit, Three, Lift My Soul and The Star) were premiered under the baton of Dr. David Fryling with the eVoco ensembles and the Hofstra Chamber Choir. Her scores Lift My Soul and Distant Murmurings were accepted into the prestigious PROJECT : ENCORE™ Catalog of post-premiere choral compositions. In 2024 her piece Tacit was premiered by the Hofstra University Chamber Choir, she had two pieces performed by the Evergreen and Oak Trio in connection with the Iowa Composers Forum and won first prize in the Inaugural Pioneering Voices Choral Series Composition Competition at Mount Holyoke College, with Dr. Colin Britt , for her SSAA piece Distant Murmurings. Joan was recognized as runner-up in the 2023 Celebris Ensemble Composition Contest. She received Honorable Mention for her piece Lift My Soul in the 2022 HerVoice Composers Competition hosted by Stacy Garrop and Chicago a cappella.
Joan feels great joy in her renewed commitment to creating music. She finds inspiration in searching for texts that express her deep feelings, values and views of the world whether it is through ancient Middle Eastern poetry, Biblical verse, classic prose or contemporary poets. Joan is grateful for the opportunity to share her compositions.
Meredith Tompkins, Saginaw, TX
Tompkins’ composition A Rose Has Thorns will be workshopped and performed by The Vancouver Youth Choir, and she will work with mentor composer Stacy Garrop. Meredith Tompkins is a composer, educator, and soprano in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas. She holds a B.M. from Dallas Baptist University in Music Theory/Composition and a M.A. in Vocal Pedagogy from Texas Woman’s University. From 2011-2019, Meredith ran a private voice studio of 50-60 musicians and sang with Orpheus Chamber Singers, Verdigris Ensemble, Highland Park Chorale, Incarnatus, and the Dallas Chamber Choir. From 2018-2019, during her tenure with Verdigris Ensemble’s board of directors, Meredith founded the ION Young Composer Competition and also served as a collaborative composer for school outreaches in south Dallas. In 2019, she transitioned to full-time choir teaching in Northwest ISD at the middle school level (2019-2021) and later, high school (2021-present).
Meredith’s background in vocal performance and pedagogy work hand-in-hand with her compositional style; her works are designed to enrich the vocal development of musicians. Her compositions have been presented at conference reading sessions for the American Choral Director’s Association and the Texas Music Educator’s Association, and have been performed at the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s SOLUNA Festival (2019) and the Cambiata Institute of America for Early Adolescent Vocal Music’s MS/JH National Conference (2018). In 2024, she joined the Fort Worth Chorale’s Schola Cantorum project as a Cycle 3 composer.
Meredith is passionate about working with students, families, and colleagues to create meaningful experiences together through music.
2024 HerVoice winners Agustina Crespo and Emma Wilde have had their winning compositions workshopped in preparation for performances by Chicago a cappella in their fall 2025 program Cantaré.
Performing with an ensemble of 10 singers and no conductor, Chicago a cappella has been hailed as “the area’s best unaccompanied group” (Chicago Magazine) and “the city’s liveliest, most versatile vocal ensemble” (Chicago Tribune). Founded in 1993, the group spans a repertoire from Gregorian chant to the Beatles and beyond. With more than 500 performances to its credit, Chicago a cappella produces an annual concert series in the Chicago area, and it has appeared in 13 American states and in Mexico. The ensemble is heard frequently on radio nationally and has a catalog of nine CD recordings on the Cedille, Centaur, and Gothic labels.
The American Choral Director Association is a sponsor of HerVoice.
HerVoice is partially supported by grants from The Elizabeth Morse Genius Charitable Trust and from The Cliff Dwellers Arts Foundation.
