Original Compositions heard on 2019 LMTA Composition Contest Winners Recital

Out of a total of fifty-three entries in six levels, twenty original compositions were featured at the Lincoln Music Teachers Association [LMTA] biennial Composition Contest Winners Recital held at Grace Lutheran Church in Lincoln, Nebraska on March 24, 2019. This year’s judge, Jean Henderson, also presented her trilogy of vocal/pieces entitled “Fog, “The Fog Come” and Fog. Winners received cash prizes provided by LMTA, and Dietze Music House donated gift certificates for those receiving Honorable Mention. The Composition Contest Committee consisted of Dr. Marina Fabrikant, Jane Sonneland and Marcia Wiebers. For more information about the Lincoln Music Teachers Association, see www.LMTA.info.


Photo Courtesy of Steve ZeckmannRow 1 Left to Right: Nolan Ngo, Emerson Mailander, Jonah P. Rabe, Josiah D. Rabe, Ella Wray, Will Moreland, Vasya Mironov, Sarah Webb, Carson Thurber, Jessica FreemanRow 2 Left to Right: Marina Fabrikant, Teacher, Ethan Riegsecker, Jonathan Handley, Masha Mironova, Noah Robb, Anna A. Renard, Maria Paul Fix, Grace Niebuhr, Jo Riecker-Karl, TeacherRow 3 Marcia Wiebers, Teacher, Jean Henderson, Judge, Nancy Schoen, Teacher, Emily Webb, Dawson Dynek, Jane Sonneland, TeacherNot pictured: Zander Ferguson, Zaria J. Maynez


Composition Winners by Division

Early Elementary Division (through grade 2):

First Place, Vasya Mironov “Sparrow in Snow on a Sunny Day” (Marina Fabrikant, Teacher)

Second Place, Ella Wray “The Dancing Butterfly” (Marcia Wiebers, Teacher)

Third Place, Jonah P. Rabe, “I Love Music” (Jessica Freeman, Teacher)

Honorable Mention, Emerson Mailander, “Winter Snowflakes” and Nolan Ngo, “Breaking Up” (both students of Jo Riecker-Karl)


Late Elementary Division (grades 3-5)

First Place, Zander Ferguson, “Trip Around the World” (Nancy L. Schoen, Teacher)

Second Place, Noah Robb, “Witch’s Curse” (Marcia Wiebers, Teacher)

Third Place, Sarah Webb, “The Waterfall” (Marcia Wiebers, Teacher)

Honorable Mention, Will Moreland “The God Sleeps” (Nancy L. Schoen, Teacher)

Honorable Mention, Josiah D. Rabe “My Sister’s Violin” (Jessica Freeman, Teacher)


Junior Division (grades 6-8)

First Place, Dawson Dynek, “Lonely Beauty” (Nancy L. Schoen, Teacher)

Second Place, Maria Paul Fix, “Passacaglia” (Nancy L. Schoen, Teacher)

Third Place, Grace Niebuhr, “Waterfall” (Marcia Wiebers, Teacher)

Honorable Mention, Carson Thurber, “The Beautiful Fish” (Marcia Wiebers, Teacher)


Senior Division (grades 9-12)

First Place, Jonathan Handley, The Villain’s Serenade” (Marcia Wiebers, Teacher)

Second Place, Ethan Riegsecker, “Knights Procession” (Nancy L. Schoen, Teacher)

Third Place, Emily Webb, “Dancing Fairies” (Marcia Wiebers, Teacher)

Honorable Mention, Anna A. Renard, “Final Farewell” (Nancy L. Schoen, Teacher)


Adult Student Division

First Place, Zaria J. Maynez, “Missing One Another” (Nancy L. Schoen, Teacher)


Teacher Division

First Place, “Memories of Gold”, Jo Riecker-Karl, Teacher Composer



Additional Participants and their Teachers


Early Elementary Division

Haley McManus, Julia Swanson (Ann Elmore, Teacher)

Henry Conroy (Nancy L. Schoen, Teacher)


Late Elementary Division

Chloe Berry, Logan Berry, Kennedy McCarville, Elija Plttner, Emma Riddle (Ann Elmore, Teacher)

Masha Mironova (Marina Fabrikant, Teacher)

Kendyl Jaynes, Marylynn Florence Rauert (Jessica Freeman, Teacher)

Jasper Hagedorn, Vayda Hagedorn, Evan Ngo, Kaden Nguyen (Jo Riecker-Karl, Teacher)

Sophia Alexandra Martin (Nancy L. Schoen, Teacher)

Emily Lovegrove, Blythe Meranda, Grair Meranda (Marcia Wiebers, Teacher)


Junior Division

Nigel Chapman, Ezra Plettner (Ann Elmore, Teacher)

Jacob Langhorst (Jessica Freeman, Teacher)

Noah Thomas Stevens (Nancy L. Schoen, Teacher)

Jack Ehlers (Jane Sonneland, Teacher)

Will Niebuhr, Xander Niebuhr, Kylie Wray (Marcia Wiebers)



Senior Division

Sayra Chavez, Rocio Izaguirre, Janna Schmidt (Jo Riecker-Karl, Teacher)

Sam W. Rice (Marcia Wiebers, Teacher

Twyla Hansen, past Nebraska State Poet; Jean Henderson, judge; Lisa Zaeva, soprano; Mollie Manner, pianist


Judge: Dr. Jean Henderson, Composition Contest Judge – Biography

Jean Henderson was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, and has lived there all her life. She attended Nebraska Wesleyan University, Eastman School of Music and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Currently, she is retired from NWU, after 20 official years (actually 43) of teaching in the Music Department and keeps busy playing handbells in two choirs, and viola da gamba and recorder with Lincoln Early Music Consort, reading, composing, planning more trips to the British Isles, and working her way through various cookbooks on her kitchen shelves.

"Fog" words by Carl Sandburg Dr. Jean Henderson – Composer

“The Fog Comes” words by Jean Henderson

“Fog” words by Twyla Hansen, past Nebraska State Poet

Lisa Zaeva, soprano, and Mollie Manner, piano