Midori Ataka (DMA ’25, Organ) and current composition DMA candidate Zhishu Chang were winners of the American Guild of Organists’ Student Commissioning Project. Each year, grants of $1,000 are awarded to four collaborative composer-and-organist pairs for the composition and performance of four new works for the organ. Student teams submit a joint application describing a proposed work and its performance. Midori recorded Zhishu’s composition, A Letter to the North on a Rainy Night, at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore. This work draws inspiration from the Yunnan folk tune Xiao He Tang Shui (“Flowing Stream”), blending local melodic idioms with the serenade genre. The piece evokes a mood of longing, homesickness, and silent communication across great distance— emotions often felt by young artists living or studying far from home.
