Of all the chants in the Roman Missal, perhaps the most beautiful, poignant, and memorable is the Easter Proclamation, or Exsultet. Despite its length and technical demands, many clergy and lay people tasked with singing it are unnecessarily intimidated. Nicholas Will has helped hundreds of clergy, seminarians, and lay people chant the Exsultet with greater competency and confidence. Join him for two sessions on vocal technique, notation competency, interpretation, and practical techniques related to successfully rendering (and praying!) the Exsultet. The session on March 12 is intended for singers who have never sung the Exsultet; March 19 for those with greater familiarity and experience with the chant.
Dates/Times: March 12 and March 19, 2025 – 1 pm ET/10 am PT
Cost: Free for NPM members; $20 for non-members
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About the Presenter: Nicholas Will
Nicholas Will is the Director of Sacred Music at The Pittsburgh Oratory and the Founder and Director of the Saint Gregory Institute of Sacred Music, At the Oratory, he oversees a comprehensive and rapidly expanding sacred music program focused on excellence in repertoire, execution, and pedagogy, serving as primary organist and director of the Oratory Choir. From 2020 to 2024 he served as Director of Liturgical Music and Lecturer at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, overseeing a robust music program and teaching a comprehensive sacred music curriculum at America’s largest seminary. Similarly, he served as Director of Liturgical Music at the Pontifical North American College, Vatican City State, from 2018 to 2020. From 2013 to 2018, he was an Assistant Professor of Music at Franciscan University of Steubenville, where he also served as Coordinator of the Sacred Music Program from 2016 to 2018. Other previous positions include directorships at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, Carnegie, PA and the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament,Altoona, PA. A graduate of Duquesne University and the Peabody Conservatory of Music with additional study in improvisation with Dom Theo Flury, O.S.B. at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, Rome, Nicholas is a past winner of the André Marchal Award for Excellence in Organ Performance (Duquesne), the Dorothy DeCourt Prize in Organ (Peabody), the Young Organists’ Audition sponsored by the Pittsburgh Concert Society, and the Duquesne University Concerto Competition. He has performed as an organist, accompanist, and conductor throughout the United States and in Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Croatia, and Austria, including national gatherings of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians (2012 and 2018) and the Church Music Association of America (2018). His recordings as an organist and conductor have been released by Navona Records and Jade Music, and he is a published composer with CanticaNOVA Publications. Nicholas’s extensive experience as a university professor and director of parish, cathedral, and seminary music programs has given him a thorough knowledge of the Church’s tradition of sacred music, an intimate familiarity with the issues facing parishes and church musicians today, and the desire and skills to improve the state of Catholic sacred music in the United States.