Colloquium XXXIII

June 19 – 24, 2023 | Detroit

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The Church Music Association of America is pleased to share with you the 33rd annual Sacred Music Colloquium for chant and polyphony. This week-long experience, held at the gorgeous and historic Old St. Mary’s Church and at Wayne State University immersed beginner to advanced singers, conductors, and clergy in the beauty of sacred chant and polyphony.

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Sacred Music Colloquium

Detroit, Michigan

Extensive training in Gregorian chant under a world-class faculty, with choices of chant classes for beginners to advanced men and women.

  • Chant specialty breakout sessions on Modes
  • Music Specialty Breakout sessions for organists, chant conducting, new music, vocal pedagogy, warmup techniques, Implementing the Proper Chants at your Parish, and Basics of Chant Conducting, among others.
  • Choral experience with one of three choirs singing sacred music of the masters such as Isaac, Vivanco, Byrd, Victoria, Brumel, Morales, Bernabei, Hassler, and Guerrero, contemporary compositions by Knaggs and Jernberg, as well as a newly composed Spanish Mass Ordinary by David Hughes. You’ll learn with our gifted faculty.
  • Daily liturgies with careful attention to musical settings in English, Spanish and Latin
  • Individual training in vocal production and technique (by appointment only)
  • A one-of-a-kind Book of Scores, including chant and polyphony
  • Your own copy of The Parish Book of Chant, second edition
  • Book sales from the CMAA warehouse. We offer discounts on our books to CMAA members.
  • Join Alex Begin, host of EWTN’s Extraordinary Faith on an optional bus tour of Detroit’s historic Catholic sites. Click here for more information.
Most Rev. Allen H. Vigneron

Most Rev. Allen H. Vigneron

Archbishop of Detroit

 

Allen Henry Vigneron a native of Mount Clemens, Michigan, entered the high school program of Sacred Heart Seminary, Detroit, in September 1962.

Upon graduation in 1970, he continued his theological education at the Pontifical Gregorian University. Archbishop Vigneron was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Detroit on July 26, 1975, at St. Clement of Rome Church by the late Cardinal John Dearden.  He returned to Rome in 1976 for a year of study to complete the work required for his Licentiate in Sacred Theology degree, which he earned from the Gregorian University in 1977.

Cardinal Dearden assigned Archbishop Vigneron to begin graduate studies in the School of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., in the fall of 1979.

He earned his Master of Arts in philosophy in 1983 and his Doctor of Philosophy in May 1987 with a dissertation on the German philosopher Edmund Husserl.

Archbishop Vigneron was elected Vice President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on November 12, 2019, after which he expressed gratitude to his brother bishops and offered prayers that the Holy Spirit would grant him “the grace to help us all in our service of Christ’s Church.”

Dr. William Mahrt

Dr. William Mahrt

President of the Church Music Association of America

Dr. William P. Mahrt is Associate Professor and Director of Early Music Singers at the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at Stanford University, President of the Church Music Association of America, and editor of Sacred Music, the oldest continuously published journal of music in North America.

Dr. Mahrt grew up in Washington State; after attending Gonzaga University and the University of Washington, he completed a doctorate at Stanford University in 1969. He taught at Case Western Reserve University and the Eastman School of Music, and then returned to Stanford in 1972, where he continues to teach early music. Since 1964 he has directed the choir of St. Ann’s Chapel in Palo Alto, which sings Mass and Vespers in Gregorian chant on all the Sundays of the year, with masses in the polyphonic music of Renaissance masters for the holy days.

His research interests include theory and performance of Medieval and Renaissance music, troubadours, Machaut, Dufay, Lasso, Dante, English Cathedrals, Gregorian chant, and Renaissance polyphony. He has published articles on the relation of music and liturgy, and music and poetry. He frequently leads workshops in the singing of Gregorian chant and the sacred music of the Renaissance.

Dr. Margaret I. Hughes

Dr. Margaret I. Hughes

Tutor of Philosophy, Thomas Aquinas College

 

We are delighted to welcome Dr. Margaret Hughes to the Colloquium faculty for 2023. She will present a plenary talk during the week.

Margaret Hughes is on the teaching faculty of Thomas Aquinas College, New England, a Catholic great books college.

She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Fordham University, where she wrote on the thought of Josef Pieper and the role of the perception of beautiful art in moral formation.

She has presented and published work on Thomistic anthropology, aesthetics, and ethics, with a particular interest in the relation between the passions and human flourishing.

Her BA is in medieval studies and philosophy from the University of Chicago.

Father Robert C. Pasley, KCHS

Father Robert C. Pasley, KCHS

Chaplain of the Church Music Association of America

Rev. Robert C. Pasley, KCHS, has been a member of the CMAA since his ordination. Fr. Pasley will present a breakout session on All that you wanted to know about the Ancient Form of the Mass but were afraid to ask, along with M.C. Bill Riccio and David Hughes.

He is a priest of the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey.

Because of his association with Msgr. Richard Schuler, he was introduced to the Sacred Music Colloquium and has attended most of the colloquia held since their foundation in 1990. 

Father Pasley received a B.A. in Philosophy from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Philadelphia, an M.A. in Dogmatic Theology from Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary, Emmitsburg, and an M.A. in Education from Seton Hall University. He was ordained by the Most Reverend George H. Guilfoyle in 1982.

On October 13, 2000, he was appointed Rector, by Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, of the newly established Tridentine-rite Parish of Mater Ecclesiae, Berlin, N.J. (materlatin.org). Mater Ecclesiae was the first diocesan-run Extraordinary Form parish in the United States. 

Fr. Mark Bachmann

Fr. Mark Bachmann

Choirmaster, Clear Creek Abbey

Br. Mark Bachmann will present two breakout sessions at this summer’s Sacred Music Colloquium. He will present one session on the rule of St. Benedict and another on the Liturgy of the Hours.

After earning a Bachelor’s degree in liberal arts, Brother Mark Bachmann entered Fontgombault, a Benedictine monastery in France, where he was ordained a priest in 1991. He sang in the Fontgombault schola, after which he functioned as precentor at Gaussan for five years. He attained the 4th degree of the St. Gregoire schola.

Sent as one of the 13 founders of Clear Creek monastery in 1999, he has served as choirmaster at the monastery since 2009. He was on the CMAA faculty for the 2016 Colloquium in St. Louis, MO and has also offered summer courses on Gregorian Chant, using the newly-translated books entitled Laus in Ecclesia in the past several years.

Dr. Horst Buchholz

Dr. Horst Buchholz

Director of Sacred Music at the Archdiocese of Detroit and the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit, MI

 

Dr. Horst Buchholz received his first musical training in a boys’ choir in his native Germany and studied organ and sacred music at the Berlin College of Church Music and the University of Arts, and received his Doctor of Music degree in conducting from the Indiana University School of Music.

Dr. Buchholz has held positions in cathedrals and churches throughout the United States and Europe, including the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver, Colorado.  He has served as a member of the organ faculty at Cleveland State University; Associate Professor of Music and Director of Schola Cantorum at St. John Vianney Seminary (Denver); conducting professor and organ faculty member at Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver.  He is also Vice-President of the Church Music Association of America.

Dr. Susan Treacy

Dr. Susan Treacy

Professor of Music Emerita at Ave Maria University

 

Susan Treacy, Ph.D., is Professor of Music Emerita at Ave Maria University, from which she retired in July of 2019. Prior to AMU, she taught at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Luther College, and Emory University, where she was a Mellon Faculty Fellow in the Humanities.

Dr. Treacy holds the Ph.D. in historical musicology from the University of North Texas; her B.Mus. and M.Mus. degrees are from Oberlin Conservatory and the Manhattan School of Music.

At Ave Maria University Dr. Treacy taught music history, art song literature, special topics courses, sacred music courses, and Gregorian chant; in addition, she directed the Women’s Schola Gregoriana and the Men’s Schola Gregoriana.

David Hughes

David Hughes

Organist & Choirmaster at St. Patrick’s Parish and Oratory in Waterbury, Connecticut

 
David Hughes is a composer, conductor, and organist who is in international demand as a recitalist and an instructor of Gregorian chant.

He served for thirteen years as Organist & Choirmaster at St. Mary’s Church in Norwalk, Connecticut, where he developed a program of seven choirs, including the professional St. Mary’s Schola Cantorum, the volunteer St. Mary’s Choir, and the St. Mary’s Student Schola, a comprehensive program of musical education for children.

He directs Viri Galilæi, an ensemble of men from the tristate New York area who gather weekly to sing Vespers and medieval polyphony from facsimiles of original manuscripts. Hughes is Director of Music at St. John Fisher Seminary in Stamford, Connecticut, and serves as a consultant to several parishes in Connecticut looking to expand their musical programs.

Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka

Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka

Associate Professor and the Director of Sacred Music at St. Patrick’s Seminary, Menlo Park, CA

Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka is an associate professor and the director of sacred music at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California, where she holds the William P. Mahrt Chair in Sacred Music and directs the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music.

Dr. Donelson-Nowicka serves as a consultant to the USCCB’s Committee on Divine Worship.

As a choral conductor, Donelson-Nowicka has directed collegiate, semi-professional, amateur, monastic, and children’s choirs.

Dr. Donelson-Nowicka is currently working on a project to adapt the Gregorian chants of the Mass proper for the Spanish languageShe also hosts a weekly podcast entitled “Square Notes: The Sacred Music Podcast.”

Mary Ann Carr Wilson

Mary Ann Carr Wilson

Soprano, CEO Canticle

 

Having trained under experts in Gregorian chant and Renaissance music and having performed in several early music ensembles, Mary Ann served as Music Director at three different parishes in the San Diego diocese over a period of twenty years.

In 2019, Mary Ann founded a new apostolate, “Canticle”, where she now focuses on teaching others in the U.S. and Mexico about her love for sacred music, particularly in programs for children. She directs the premier youth schola for Canticle, the Jubilate Deo Choir, comprised of forty young Catholics who study and pray sacred music in the Catholic tradition.

Mary Ann has been a pioneer of a children’s program called Chant Camp, a week-long fun and immersive experience of sacred music and liturgical catechesis. Her professional collaborations in the area of sacred music include CMAA (faculty and board member), the Benedict XVI Institute, and ChantWorks.

Dr. MeeAe Cecilia Nam

Dr. MeeAe Cecilia Nam

Soprano, Professor of Voice at Eastern Michigan University

 

Dr. MeeAe Cecilia Nam,  known for her musical versatility, sensitivity and genuine interpretation (the Denver Post), has had a rich performance experience as a soloist in recitals, oratorios, sacred music, chamber and orchestral concerts, and stage works throughout the United States, Germany, Austria, and South Korea.

In addition to her position as Professor of Voice at Eastern Michigan University, she has been on the faculty of the Church Music Association of America and at the Vianden International Summer Festival and School in Luxembourg. She has also been Guest Artist and Clinician at numerous institutions.

Dr. Nam published a critical edition of Gouvy’s songs in two volumes with EC Schirmer in 2018. These two volumes are a unique and exclusive publication, and a valuable contribution to song literature. They are the result of her extensive scholarship and research in France, Germany, and the United States.

Christopher Berry

Christopher Berry

Director of Sacred Music and Organist at St. Stanislaus Oratory

 

Mr. Berry studied with James Higdon at the University of Kansas and Jesse Eschbach at the University of North Texas. He spent a summer in Paris studying with Marie-Claire Alain and Marie-Madeleine Duruflé.  He received a Premier Prix at Rueil-Malmaison Conservatory.

During his tenure as Music Director at the Pontifical North American College, Mr. Berry conducted Masses at St. Peter’s Basilica, and a private concert for patrons of the Chicago Symphony in the Sistine Chapel. He has led two choir tours of England with the Church of the Incarnation Choir in Dallas, with residencies at Westminster Abbey, Lichfield Cathedral, and St. George’s, Windsor. Prior to his work at St. Stanislaus, Mr. Berry spent 8 years building an impressive choral program at the Basilica of St. Josaphat in Milwaukee.

Mr. Berry is Professor of Organ at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI and maintains an
active private teaching studio.

Michael Olbash

Michael Olbash

Director of Sacred Music at Saint John’s Seminary, Boston, MA, and Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary, Weston, MA.

Nationally recognized for his leadership in sacred music education, he founded the Boston Chapter of Choristers Guild, for which he served as president for eight years, served for many years as a festival supervisor and member of the Board of Directors of the American Federation Pueri Cantores, and currently directs the upper school chorus at Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Still
River, MA.

An active member of the American Guild of Organists (AGO), he holds the
Choirmaster and Colleague certificates from the AGO, has lectured at both regional and national conventions, and is the recipient of both the AGO Choirmaster Prize and the S. Lewis
Elmer Award. He holds music degrees from Harvard University and St. Joseph’s College of Indiana, and resides in Massachusetts with his wife Mary Ann and their four children.

Nicholas Lemme

Nicholas Lemme

Composer, Singer, and Professor of Music, Lincoln, NE

 

Composer, singer, and professor of music based in the shire of Lincoln, NE.  His works range from sacred choral music to cafe americana.  Nicholas has written for, and collaborated with, a number of choirs, most notably The Singers—Minnesota Choral Artists; Schola Cantorum of St. Joseph’s Seminary, Archdiocese of New York; the Church Music Association of America; and the Polyphonic Choir of Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary. 

He is a professor of Gregorian chant, sacred polyphony, and vocal instruction at the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter’s (FSSP) Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, NE, a position he has held for the past eleven years.  Additionally, he directs the choir of St. Francis of Assisi Chapel (Lincoln, NE) and periodically provides chant instruction for diocesan religious and sacred music clinics throughout the USA.  For more information please visit www.nicholaslemme.com

William Riccio

William Riccio

Master of Ceremonies, Norwalk CT

 

William Riccio joins us again on staff for Colloquium 2023 as Master of
Ceremonies during the week. His extensive experience with both forms of the Roman Rite have made his assistance invaluable to the CMAA. Bill will present a breakout session on All that you wanted to know about the Ancient Form of the Mass but were afraid to ask, along with Fr. Robert Pasley and David Hughes.

Bill will work with celebrants and servers to assure the seamless coordination of all our liturgies.

Many participants have gained valuable experience and knowledge about serving at both Extraordinary and Ordinary Form Masses in past years by serving with Bill during our liturgies.

We know this will again be true in 2023.
Bill Riccio is a frequent contributor to the New Liturgical Movement, offering articles about the Traditional Latin Mass. He serves as Master of Ceremonies at St. Mary’s in Norwalk, CT.

Alexander D. Begin

Alexander D. Begin

Co- Creator, Executive Producer, and Host of Extraordinary Faith

Alex Begin is co-creator, executive producer, and host of Extraordinary Faith, a half-hour television series about traditional Catholic sacred art, architecture, liturgy, and music on EWTN, the global Catholic cable TV channel.

Alex has been promoting the traditional Catholic Latin Mass since the mid 1980s, primarily in the Archdiocese of Detroit and the Diocese of London, Ontario, Canada.  He has created hundreds of Latin/English Propers Handouts for each day in the liturgical year to help people follow the Mass; these handouts are now used by churches across the globe.

Since 2006 he has been writing a weekly column, the Tridentine Community News, distributed at several metro Detroit Latin Mass sites and ​available at www.windsorlatinmass.org

At the urging of a former official of the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, with similar encouragement from a former Auxiliary Bishop of London, Ontario, Alex began to offer a two-day intensive training session to teach priests how to celebrate the Traditional Mass. Over 200 priests and several bishops in the United States and Canada have taken Alex’s training, which is unique in that it is offered on-site at the priest’s church at no charge for time or travel. Every training session ends with the priest offering his first live Latin Mass.

Jennifer Donaldson Conducts Schola learn sacred music fall workshop Church Music Association of America

Detroit Bus Tour

Join Alex Begin, host of EWTN’s Extraordinary Faith, on an optional bus tour on June 19th to explore some of the city’s most significant Catholic sites. 

Alex Begin, a knowledgeable Catholic Detroit native, and host of EWTN’s Extraordinary Faith, will take you on a four hour journey to explore some of the most significant Catholic sites in the city, including beautiful historic churches and cathedrals dating back hundreds of years. Take in the unique architectural significance of each church, its part in Detroit’s Catholic history, and the role of the church in shaping the city’s cultural identity.

The bus tour is an optional activity offered prior to the start of the 33rd Colloquium and is available for a small additional cost. The tour will last approximately four hours and will provide you with a unique opportunity to prime your mind for the sublime prior to the Colloquium. You’ll have the chance to ask questions and engage with Alex as he shares his expertise and insights.

Lunch at Hart Plaza, transportation to and from Wayne State University, and the guided tour are included in the cost. Availability is limited.

Jennifer Donaldson Conducts Schola learn sacred music fall workshop Church Music Association of America

JOIN THE CMAA TODAY

Members of the CMAA receive special discounts on all CMAA events including the Colloquium.

As a member, you’ll be part of a vibrant community of musicians, clergy, and supporters in pursuit of high musical ideals in Catholic liturgy. Additionally, members of the Church music Association enjoy:
-Exclusive Discounted Pricing for Events
-Quarterly Issues of Sacred Music. The acclaimed members-only journal
-The first to preview & purchase new compositions and publications
-Specially curated content right to your inbox 

Who should join? If you are interested in sacred music, you’re invited.