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Diers, Ann (1925-)

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Ann DiersAnn MacDonald Diers was born in 1925. A singer and composer, Ann MacDonald Diers is a graduate of the Hartt School of Music where she studied composition with Isadore Freed. She received her M.A. in Music from Columbia University on a full tuition scholarship.

In 1994 she was a winner in a choral competition sponsored by Bowdoin College and was a finalist in a choral anthem contest sponsored by Ithaca College of Music. A Unitarian Credo won first prize in a state A.C.D.A competition. In 1995 her commissioned cantata, A Pilgrim People, was performed in Orleans on Cape Cod. Recently the Chatham Chorale Chamber Singers performed a complete concert of her works. Hold Your Hands Out Over the Earth has been published, and This Day won second prize in a national competition. A work for choir, brass and organ commissioned by the Eastern Region of the American Guild of Organists was performed in Falmouth.

After a solo recital at New York’s Carnegie Recital Hall, The New York Times critic Robert Sherman wrote:

“She rounded out her impressive display of versatility by performing two of her own compositions, attractive songs in a conservative, Ned Rorem-like idiom.”

Ms Diers currently resides on Cape Cod. She continues to compose anthems especially suited for Unitarian Universalist choirs, and is ever seeking suitable texts.