Psalm Chant Competition 2026
PRISM's Board of Directors is please to announce our International Psalm Chant Competition for 2026.
Established to foster creativity and connections across the globe, this is a fantastic opportunity to let your composition skills and creativity shine through an original composition of an Anglican psalm chant, based on the text of one of the 150 Psalms, and to be sung in the context of a church service.
For inspiration, view previous years' pages on this website.
The competition opens today 1 November and will close at 11.59pm GMT on Saturday 28 February 2026.
Winner and runner up will be announced on Monday 30 March on this website and our FB page.
The Adjudicator Panel - details below
Ms Emma Gibbins, Chelmsford Cathedral, UK
Ms Claudia Grinnell, St Edmundsbury Cathedral, UK
Mr Ian Roberts, Newcastle Cathedral, UK
Mr Richard Tanner, St Thomas' Church, 5th Avenue, New York, USA
Mr Anthony Tattersall, St John's Cathedral, Napier, NZ
Ms Maxine Thévenot, St John's Cathedral, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Emma Gibbins - UK
Director of Music at Chelmsford Cathedral, Essex
Emma began her musical career as organ scholar at Pembroke College, Cambridge, subsequently holding organ scholar posts at St. Martin-in-the-Fields and Southwell Minster. She studied for an MMus in Organ Performance at the Royal College of Music, before spending a number of years working in and around London as Director of Music at High Wycombe Parish Church, Associate Organist at St. Sepulchre-without-Newgate in the City of London, Director of a newly formed Girls’ Choir at Brentwood Cathedral in Essex and accompanist of the South West London Choral Society. Emma relocated to Northern Ireland in 2008 to take up the position of Director of Music at St. George’s Church in Belfast, where she also taught piano and organ, worked as an accompanist in the music department at Queens University, directed the Belfast Phoenix Choir and accompanied the St George's Singers. She moved to Newport in 2015 as Director of Music at Newport Cathedral, where she was responsible for directing the cathedral’s adult choir, boys’ choir and girls’ choir, which she set up from scratch in 2015. She also taught piano and organ, was in demand as an organ and piano accompanist and organ recitalist, directed the Adams Chorale and accompanied the Newport “Forget me not chorus” for dementia sufferers. She moved to Essex in September 2024 to take up the role of Director of Music at Chelmsford Cathedral. Since then, she has been focusing on rebuilding the chorister sections of the Cathedral Choir and expanding the cathedral’s musical outreach.
Claudia Grinnell – UK
Director of Music, St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Claudia began learning the organ at St Peter’s Collegiate Church in Wolverhampton, and was Organ Scholar there during her final years at school. She then studied at the University of Cambridge, receiving a first-class degree in Music. Whilst at university, she was Organ Scholar at Peterhouse, which was at the time a college where the organ scholars took full responsibility for the running of the Chapel Choir. Her final two years there saw the choir embark on tours to Reykjavík and Dublin. Following a year as Organ Scholar at Salisbury Cathedral, she spent seven years on the music staff at Winchester Cathedral, latterly as Sub-Organist. During her time there she commissioned a number of new works for the Cathedral Choirs and the building of a new chamber organ. She also had particular responsibility for the Girls’ Choir, which celebrated their 25th anniversary in May 2024. Claudia joined the team at St Edmundsbury Cathedral in September 2024 as Director of Music, the first woman to hold the post in the Cathedral’s history. Her first year with the choir saw an exciting programme of events, including a production of Benjamin Britten’s Noye’s Fludde in November alongside around 250 local schoolchildren. Alongside a busy schedule of services and concerts, the choir has recently recorded Dupré’s Quatre Motets, which is due for release in early 2026.
Ian Roberts – UK
Director of Music, Newcastle Cathedral, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Ian has maintained and developed music at Newcastle Cathedral since 2016. He has led on various initiatives, including the Cathedral’s Schools Singing Programme which now works with more than 800 children per week, the reinstating of the Cathedral Organ after some years of silence, and the subsequent launching of the Cathedral’s Organ Appeal. The Cathedral Choir has received particular acclaim for its musical performances in services, concerts, broadcasts and recordings under Ian’s direction. This has included broadcasts on BBC Radios 3 and 4 and a number of commercial recordings, the last of which received a 4-star rating in BBC Music Magazine. Ian held Organ Scholarships at Blackburn and Chichester Cathedrals, before moving to Chester Cathedral, where as Assistant Director of Music he accompanied the Cathedral Choir in daily services, concerts, broadcasts and recordings, directed the Cathedral Nave Choir, and began an outreach programme for the Cathedral. In 2011 Ian moved to Sheffield to direct one of the country’s largest and most innovative parish church music programmes at St John’s Church, Ranmoor.
Richard Tanner – USA
St Thomas' Church, 5th Avenue, New York
Richard Tanner is The Nancy B. and John B. Hoffmann Organist and Director of Music at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, New York City, where he directs the Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, the leading ensemble of its kind in the United States. Richard has specialised in the training of boy and girl chorister voices for over thirty years. As music director, organist and producer, he has made over fifty recordings and has worked extensively for the BBC, including for twenty years as a musical director and organist for BBC Radio 4’s Daily Service. Orchestras that he has conducted include the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, The Bliss Sinfonia (which he founded), and period instrument ensembles, Canzona and New York Baroque Incorporated. Recordings as a conductor, both with the Northern Chamber Orchestra, include Requiem and Organ Concerto by David Briggs and The Manchester Carols by Carol Ann Duffy and Sasha Johnson Manning. His organ recordings are available on Spotify, including Messiaen’s La Nativité du Seigneur. He has given masterclasses in Shanghai and Shenzhen, and has directed choral courses in Sweden and for RSCM America. Richard was a chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral, student at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and organ scholar at Exeter College Oxford. He has held posts at St Albans Cathedral, Trinity Laban Conservatoire, All Saints’ Northampton, Rugby School and Blackburn Cathedral, where he was Director of Music for 13 years. Richard is married to the soprano, Philippa Hyde (www.philippahydesoprano.com).
Anthony Tattersall – NZ/UK
Director of Music, Waiapu Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Napier, New Zealand
Anthony began his musical journey at the age of eight, joining the Blackburn Cathedral Choir in the UK under the direction of John Bertalot. As a finalist in the Choirboy of the Year competition in the early 1980s, Anthony went on to serve as a counter tenor in the Blackburn Cathedral Choir for twenty years, working with esteemed directors including David Cooper, Gordon Stewart, Richard Tanner, and Samuel Hudson. Mentored in choir direction by Gertrude Kay while accompanying the Newrad Singers, Anthony began directing choirs at eighteen, leading the Newrad Singers—a four-part ladies choir—for twenty-five years. In 1995, Anthony was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at St Cuthbert’s Parish Church in Darwen, a role held for fourteen years, and received further mentorship from John Bertalot upon his return from America. Anthony’s passion for choral music led to the formation and direction of Octavius UK for twelve years. After emigrating to New Zealand in 2014, Anthony established Octavius NZ in 2016. In 2018, Anthony was appointed Director of Music at Napier Cathedral. His commitment to nurturing young talent is evident in the founding of the Waiapu Young People’s Choir as well as the Waiapu Cathedral Strings in 2019, both dedicated to supporting and training the next generation of musicians. Anthony is committed to continuing the great tradition of psalm singing in all its forms, especially Anglican Chant.
Dr Maxine Thévenot - USA
Director of Music & Organist at the Episcopal Cathedral of St John, Albuquerque
Award-winning Canadian-American musician Maxine Thévenot is known for her skillful, musical playing, inventive concert programming, and passionate, informed conducting. She combines a profound commitment to her liturgical work as a cathedral musician with guest conducting, solo and collaborative organ recitals, and thrives on co-creating community experiences. Her musical career has taken her throughout Great Britain and North America and to significant European venues in Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, and Italy. First-prize winner of the 2000 Canada Bach National Organ Competition, Maxine has also broadcast for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, National Public Radio, and Pipedreams. Dr. Thévenot has been a featured performer and lecturer at national and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Royal Canadian College of Organists. She serves as a competition jury member and examiner for the American Guild of Organists and serves on the editorial board of the Association of Anglican Musicians. Canon Maxine Thévenot serves as Director of Cathedral Music & Organist at the Episcopal Cathedral of St John, Albuquerque, NM. She is also the Artistic Director of an extensive community outreach ministry, Friends of Cathedral Music. Recognized for her excellence as a recording artist, Maxine has released 17 recordings on the Raven CD label. A highly sought-after and regarded choral conductor, chorus master, and guest clinician, she is the Founding and Artistic Director of Polyphony: Voices of New Mexico, the state’s first professional resident vocal ensemble. Dr Thévenot has taught in the Department of Music at the University of New Mexico since 2006. Currently, she teaches pipe organ repertoire, however, in the past she taught music theory and music history, and for 15 years was Director of the UNM Women’s Chorus, Las Cantantes. A native of Saskatchewan, Canada, Maxine Thévenot received her Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of Saskatchewan (with Distinction) and her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the Manhattan School of Music. She was twice awarded the Bronson Ragan Award at the Manhattan School of Music for ‘outstanding ability in organ performance.’ Maxine is an Associate of the Royal Canadian College of Organists and the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, and was made an Honorary Fellow of the National College of Music, London, UK in 2006 for her “services to music.”
