Music

I am a musician, a conductor, a teacher, and a storyteller. 

Through music, I work with pieces and ensembles that range from simple to complex. I strive to chase and share cathartic experiences with audiences, fellow artists, and dreamers; to convey to our daily life, art that is good, true, and beautiful. I enjoy the timelessness of chant melodies, while also treading through the flowing lines of polyphonic and orchestral works. 

Offerings: Based in the Chicagoland area, I teach and offer private lessons (brass, voice, piano, chant) as well as group lessons. I am a trained vocalist (bass), and available for leading ensembles as a conductor and/or chironomer.

Background: I graduated from Saint Joseph’s College (IN) with a Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance (tuba). In my time at SJC, I participated and performed with seven of the eight instrumental ensembles, as well as sang with the College choir and SJC Chamber Singers.After graduating, I taught as Adjunct Faculty in the music department of SJC (low brass and capstone performance courses). When moving to Chicagoland area first in 2014, I began participating in a number of ensembles and became quite involved in the Patrons of Sacred Music at St. John Cantius Church in Chicago including singing as a bass and conducting the high school Magnificat Choir for a time before taking a five year stint in the Cincinnati area where I led a number of choral groups, instructed private lessons, taught high school music (choral and band) and drama courses, and founded and led a young adult polyphonic choir for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington (Frassati Heights Choir).

Vision: My art, be it in making music, leading an ensemble, or teaching a private lesson, is the weaving together stories of a community. This is what I find most enjoyable in my art. When leading music, every motion has a sound, and every sound has a motion. 

Through careful considerations of voicing, setting of performance (both architectural and timing within the seasons), the programing of my art is developed and planned in advance to begin rehearsal and coordination.  Inspired by multiple composers of sacred music such as Palestrina, Monteverdi, and Haydn, my ensembles often will create music that is much more liturgical in nature. This, in turn, creates a reverence for the art and for the community brought together. 

While my strongest passions for music are for that found in the treasury of compositions written for Catholic liturgies, I also dabble and enjoy teaching contemporary, jazz, pop, musical theatre, and folk music.

There is a mixing of the intellect and emotions within a truly beautiful composition. My hope is to create moments of art that touch the souls of my musicians, students, and audiences, leaving an impression and lifting of the heart and spirit. 

See articles:
The Cantor Coach, Musician Spotlight