This May the City of Angels will host a symposium on sacred music. Slated for May 28-31, Sacred Music Symposium – “Best Practices: Working with Amateur Church Choirs” will take place in Los Angeles at the Ramada Inn and St. Victor Catholic Church, both in West Hollywood, CA.
Sponsored by the Catholic liturgical group Corpus Christi Watershed in Los Angeles and the Los Angeles area Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), the event offers the expertise of sacred music masters Horst Buchholz and Alfred Calabrese. Other sacred music aficionados featured at the event include organist for the Los Angeles area FSSP, Meaghan King, Corpus Christi Watershed’s president Jeff Ostrowski, and Father James Fryar chaplain of the Los Angeles area FSSP.
Horst is Sacred Music Director for the Archdiocese of St. Louis and Vice President of the Church Music Association of America. Choirmaster of St. Rita Catholic Church, Dallas, TX, Calabrese is a protégé of maestro Robert Shaw and an internationally known sacred music conductor and composer.
With opportunities for participants to practice what they learn, the symposium includes conferences, practicums and liturgies, including a sung high Mass in the extraordinary form and Benediction to conclude the event. Participants will sing movements from a Mass setting by Spanish composer Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599).
According to the symposium’s organizer, Jeff Ostrowski, participants will have four days of hands-on lessons in the traditions and principles of sacred music. The symposium is ideal for those wishing to implement the Church’s treasury of sacred music, a treasury which is, according to the Second Vatican Council, “inestimable.”
In the four-day symposium, “we will give music directors the tools they need to implement authentic sacred music in their parishes,” Ostrowski said. “Have you ever stood in front of a choir feeling helpless? Do you feel intimidated by Gregorian chant and polyphony— believing you don’t know where to begin? You should attend this symposium. Space is limited, but if enough interest is shown, we hope to make this an annual event.”
The conference begins on May 28 at 6 p.m. (although required rehearsals are not scheduled until May 29). The fee, including catered lunches, is $135.
For more information or to reserve a place at the symposium, email dom. [email protected]. Please include your phone number in all correspondence.
