The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada has announced the winner of its 2021 Hymn Tune Search.
Of 213 entries submitted, the committee chose a tune by Larry Visser, minister of music at LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Visser’s tune, Embrace, is a setting of “With open arms Christ welcomes you,” a text by Thomas H. Troeger. This year’s search sought a new hymntune for one of five texts written by recent Hymn Society fellows, all related to the theme of the society’s 2021 annual conference, “Singing Welcome?”
The search committee also awarded honorable mention for two other composers: John Behnke for his tune Welcome, also created for Troeger’s text; and Ephrem Feeley for the tune Cookstown, a setting of Ruth Duck’s text, “We gather here in Christ set free.”
For information: thehymnsociety.org.
Other recent competition news:
Royal Canadian College of Organists competition
