Emery Schramm
Emery Schramm ’23, director of music at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Greenville, South Carolina, has been announced as winner of the 2025 Gregg Smith Choral Composition Contest in the Rose, Jules R. and Stanford S. Setnor School of Music in Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA).
The award, which is named for renowned composer and choral conductor Gregg Smith, is given biennially to a composer between the ages of 21 and 35 who has written and submitted a musical composition for a Setnor School choral ensemble.
Schramm won for his work “Oh Earth,” which was selected by a committee of Setnor faculty from numerous compelling entries. His work will be premiered by Crouse Chorale, the premier treble ensemble at Syracuse University under the direction of Kyra Stahr, assistant teaching professor of applied music and performance. The premiere will be part of a choral concert on Wednesday, April 22, at 8 p.m. in the Rose and Jules R. Setnor Auditorium, Crouse College.
Schramm discovered his passion for choral music as a high school student at Fayetteville-Manlius school district in Manlius, New York, where he was given the opportunity to pursue countless musical endeavors. He graduated with a bachelor of music degree in music education from Syracuse University in 2023.
He previously served as the music director at First Unitarian Universalist Society of Syracuse, the co-director of the Syracuse Community Choir and the organist at Most Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Syracuse, New York. His works include “Tread Gently,” “Another World is Possible,” “The Red River Valley,” “Woman of Her Age,” “The First Noel,” “You’ll Be in my Heart” and “Home.”
The Setnor School established the Gregg Smith Choral Composition Contest and the Gregg Smith Graduate Choral Conducting Scholarship in 2008 with the support of an anonymous donor. Smith had a 30-year relationship with Syracuse University; the Gregg Smith Singers and Smith collaborated with University choirs and faculty members on operas, concerts and numerous premieres at the University.
The Setnor School of Music hosts the Gregg Smith Choral Composition Contest as part of its mission to offer opportunities for the highest level of professional musical development within the context of a broad, humanistic education; to encourage and facilitate the broadest possible range of creative options for students and faculty, recognizing that the Western classical tradition continues to grow and expand and that it is only one in a world of myriad others; to uphold the school’s role and responsibilities as a citizen of the community, and of the larger culture, by serving the community through outreach and education and by creating and maintaining an inclusive environment in which all can pursue musical interests and develop their gifts; and to offer substantive musical opportunities for non-music majors from all corners of the University.