Andrew Johnson Wins Alaska Pipe Organ Composition Competition
14 Sept 2025
Sitka Lutheran Church in Sitka, Alaska enthusiastically announces that Andrew Johnson is the first-place winner in its pipe organ composition competition. Earlier this year, Sitka Lutheran invited young composers to submit works for a competition to help celebrate the 30 year anniversary of its volunteer program. This program spreads faith, history, and love to Sitka visitors. Competition criteria specified that entries must
incorporate the melody Finlandia, by Jean Sibelius, to recognize Sitka Lutheran's Finnish heritage.
Mr. Johnson is pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY and serves as Director of Music and Organist at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Pittsford, NY. Raised in a small Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) church in central Illinois, Mr. Johnson grew up singing the great hymns of faith and has written numerous hymn arrangements for liturgical and concert use. Further information about Mr. Johnson can be found at andrewjohnsonorganist.com.
Mr. Johnson writes about his composition:
My inspiration for Fantasy on FINLANDIA came from Jean Sibelius' well-known tune, representative texts associated with the tune in Protestant hymnals, and images of Sitka, Alaska and the Finnish countryside. This work aims to capture the reverence, beauty, and grandeur of these landscapes and the tune through contrasting musical textures and organ registrations available on Sitka Lutheran Church's one-manual five-rank Kessler pipe organ from 1844: the oldest organ west of the Mississippi River.
Mr. Johnson's work will be premiered at a concert at Sitka Lutheran on October 16, 2025. The church committee states, "We are impressed with Mr. Johnson's beautiful, clear treatment of the Finlandia melody and his work's suitability for our Kessler organ." Mr. Johnson received a $1,000 honorarium.
Maria Tartaglia, a Junior at the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, NY, is the competition's second-place winner. Ms. Tartaglia has a double major in Composition and Vocal Performance. She plans to compose music for film, television advertising, and podcasts, as well as choir and orchestral work. She received a $300 honorarium.
For further information, please contact Karen Bretz at (907) 351-6591.