Submitted;  Composition Competition Winner, Robert Dierdorf

Grace Church is delighted to announce that the winning work of the 2026 Grace Church Composition Competition is ‘The Shepherds Sing’ by Robert Dierdorf.

A native of El Paso, Texas, Mr. Dierdorf attended Indiana University School of Music, where he earned a Bachelor of Music in Composition and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting. Returning to El Paso, he completed his Texas teacher certification, followed by doctoral studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He taught high school choir for thirty-two years in El Paso, Socorro, Houston, and Katy school districts.
Mr. Dierdorf has extensive experience in church music, from contemporary to high liturgical music.

An accomplished accompanist on the piano, he also plays organ and has taught private voice and piano lessons. Since retiring in 2015, he has been active as an accompanist and teacher, and is now returning to his roots as a composer.

Mr. Dierdorf’s teachers include Bernhard Heiden, Juan Orrego-Salas, Alan Harler, Julius Herford, Morris Beachy, and Fiora Contino. His high school choirs consistently earned high ratings. Mr. Dierdorf now resides in Katy, Texas, with his wife, Debi. They have two grown sons and a daughter-in-law. He is on the Worship Ministry staff at Houston Second Baptist Church West Campus, and he is an active accompanist for high school and junior high school choirs and soloists.

‘The Shepherds Sing’ is a short “cantata” for SATB chorus, baritone soloist, and chamber orchestra. The lyrics are drawn from Christmas poems by Richard Crashaw and George Herbert. Crashaw’s poem expresses the exuberant joy of the shepherds as they receive the good news of the Savior’s birth. Herbert’s poem personalizes the experience as the shepherd of his inner being, which joins him in singing praises to God. The last section returns to Crashaw, who extends the joyful response of the shepherds to all people, who “ourselves become our own best sacrifice.”

The first performance of ‘The Shepherds Sing’ will be given by the Rutland Area Chorus, Festival Orchestra and David Rugger, baritone, on December 13, 2026 at 3:30 pm – and again at 7 pm – directed by Alastair Stout.