Be a part of this year’s exciting Choral Institute! We will have the privilege of serving as the choir for the Convention Liturgy, under the direction of James Drollinger (St. Charles Borromeo, North Hollywood), John Romeri (Former Director, Christ Cathedral, Orange, CA) and Organist, David L. Ball, (Christ Cathedral, Orange CA).  We will explore some amazing music of 21st century composers both Classical and Contemporary; Composers Daniel Ficarri, Jessica French, Normand Gouin and Howard Helvey, just to name a few!  To allow the singers maximum convention time, the scores and notes will be sent ahead.  On-site rehearsals will just be for ensemble building and rehearsal with the instruments.

Sign up for the 2023 Choral Institute as you register for the Convention. 

Cost: $35 (includes boxed lunch and fees for clinicians; music must be purchased separately)

2023 Choral Institute Rehearsal Schedule:

Rehearsal: Tuesday, July 11, 2023: 10:45AM – 12:45 pm (at the Nugget)

Rehearsal: Thursday, July 13, 2023 at 2:15PM (bus to St. Rose of Lima) for rehearsal from 2:40PM – 4PM (choir alone) and 4:30PM – 5:30PM (with the instruments).

2023 Choral Institute Music Selections

  • Prelude: Magnificat (Daniel Ficarri) – Morningstar Music 50-0610

DANIEL FICARRI was named one of the top “20 under 30” organists by The Diapason magazine, Daniel Ficarri is Associate Organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, NYC and a published composer of organ, choral, and chamber music. A dynamic concert artist, Daniel has made appearances in Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall under the batons of Marin Alsop, Itzhak Perlman, David Robertson, and James Gaffigan; and he has performed in many of the country’s great houses of worship, including St. Patrick’s Cathedral in NYC and Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove, CA.  Daniel studied the organ with Paul Jacobs at The Juilliard School, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

NORMAND GOUIN has served the Church as a pastoral musician and liturgist for over 25 years. An award-winning composer, he has been commissioned to write works for cathedrals, churches, and religious communities throughout the country. In 2015, his hymn “Sound the Bell of Holy Freedom” written in collaboration with Rev. Andrew Ciferni, O. Praem, was selected as the official hymn of the World Meeting of Families, an event that marked Pope Francis’s first official visit to the United States. The Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians selected his two works “Canticle of Jesus Christ, Our Redeemer” and “I Will Sing, Forever of Your Mercies, O Lord” in 2016 as the winning entries of their annual propers composition contest. Gouin’s publishers include GIA Publications and MorningStar Music Publishers. He had several compositions commissioned for the dedication of America’s newest cathedral, Christ Cathedral in Orange, CA.  He holds degrees from The Catholic University of America and the University of Notre Dame.

PAUL HALLEY is a Grammy Award-winning composer, choral conductor, and organist. He is Director of Music of The Cathedral Church of All Saints in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Creative Director of the music publisher, record label, and arts management company, Pelagosmusic, which manages Halley’s music catalogue. Born in Romford, England in 1952, Paul Halley was raised in Ottawa, Canada where he received his early musical training as a chorister and assistant organist with The Men and Boys Choir of St. Matthew’s Anglican Church. At age sixteen, he was made an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto. Awarded the organ scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge, Halley received his M.A. with prizes in composition and performance, and was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, winning first prize in the College examinations. Following four years of post-graduate work as a church musician and teacher in Montreal, QC, Jamaica, W.I. and Victoria, BC, Halley was appointed Organist and Choirmaster at The Cathedral of St. John The Divine in New York City where he served for twelve years from 1977-1989.

In 1999, Halley became Director of Music at Trinity Episcopal Church, Torrington, CT where he inaugurated a Choral and Organ Scholars program in conjunction with Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music.  In 2007, Halley relocated to Halifax, Nova Scotia to become Director of Music at both the University of King’s College (to December 2021) and St. George’s Anglican Church (to 2011), as well as University Musician at Atlantic School of Theology (to 2015).  In 2015 Halley became Director of Music at The Cathedral Church of All Saints, Halifax, a position he held in conjunction with his work at King’s, providing many opportunities for collaboration between the two institutions. Although retired from King’s, Paul continues to inspire as Director of Music at the Cathedral.

Howard Helvey (b. 1968) resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he is active as a composer, arranger and pianist, and serves as organist and choirmaster of historic Calvary Episcopal Church. He is also co-founder (2013) and conductor of the Cincinnati Fusion Ensemble, a professional chamber choir. Additionally, in 2016 he became Editor of the historic music publishing imprint, H.W. Gray.  Nationally and internationally Mr. Helvey is in frequent demand as a composer, conductor, and speaker. Known particularly for his choral music, Mr. Helvey maintains an extremely active writing schedule, and his hundreds of compositions and arrangements are published by Beckenhorst Press, Hinshaw Music, Oxford University Press, Boosey & Hawkes, H.W. Gray, Alliance Music, Lawson-Gould, E.C. Schirmer, MorningStar Music, Paraclete Press, and Roger Dean, among other companies. His compositions have been featured on numerous recordings, national television and radio broadcasts, in such eminent venues as New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Walt Disney Concert Hall (LA), Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, the Meyerson Symphony Center (Dallas), St. Peter’s Basilica (Vatican City, Rome, Italy), St. Patrick’s Cathedral (NYC), St. Patrick’s Cathedral (Dublin, Ireland), the American Cathedral (Paris, France), Roy Thompson Hall (Toronto), the White House, the National Cathedral (Washington, D.C.), Westminster Abbey (London, England), Bath Abbey (England), the former Crystal Cathedral (Garden Grove, California), and many locations throughout Europe and Asia.

JESSICA FRENCH is an award-winning composer specializing in choral music, both sacred and secular. Her works have been commissioned and performed by various ensembles including the St. Olaf Cantorei, Massed Choirs and Orchestra; Ember Choral Arts, the Madeleine Choir School and Cathedral Chamber Orchestra, Te Deum, Seattle Pro Musica, Northwest Boychoir, Northwest Girlchoir, Seattle Girls Choir, Pacific Lutheran University Chorale, Choral Arts Northwest, and Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble. She was commissioned by the American Guild of Organists to compose two separate works for their 2022 National Convention in Seattle.

As a soprano, Jessica is a section leader at St. James Cathedral in Seattle. She also sings with Choral Arts Northwest, where she was named Composer-in-Residence for the 2021-2022 season. Jessica received her foundational training in music at the Madeleine Choir School in Salt Lake City, Utah. She received a Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and a Master of Music degree in Organ Performance from Yale University. After moving to the Seattle area in 2011, Jessica refocused her musical efforts toward composition, and has composed and arranged nearly thirty choral works during that period

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