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International Choral Festival
Parish of Saint-Roch, Paris, from July 2 to 8, 2023
The Choral Festival will be held in collaboration with The Catholic Sacred Music Project and will provide musical formation for Church musicians in choral singing, choral conducting, and organ improvisation and will culminate with a performance of the Messe Solennelle Ob. 16 by Louis Vierne at a Pontifical Mass at the Church of Saint Roch. Singers, conductors, and organists from all over the world who are devoted to the sacred music of the Church are welcome to come and cultivate their musical skills and renew their passion for serving the Church through music. The international faculty includes renowned conductors, organists, and teachers from Notre Dame de Paris, Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, Abbaye de Notre-Dame de Troirs, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C., and Hillsdale College.
Faculty
Masterclass
Conducting Sessions
Timothy McDonnell, professor of music at Hillsdale College (Michigan), will lead the conducting sessions each morning from 9:30 to 10:45. The repertoire will polyphonic motets that will be sung at the daily Masses.
Participants for the conducting sessions will be selected by video, as indicated in the form below.
Gregorian chant
With Father Le Bourgeois de Triors, Gregorian chant will be worked on according to the Solesmes method, developed by Dom Mocquereau. Each day, one hour will be devoted to the proper and ordinary of the Mass, with work on rhythm and phrasing.
Sylvain Dieudonné will give a lecture on the musical construction of the repertoire. He will also lead several rehearsals, introducing the reading of the St. Gall neumes.
Vincent Warnier, co-titular organist of Saint-Etienne-du-Mont, will give two two-hour sessions on the French tradition of liturgical improvisation at the grand organ of Saint-Etienne, where Maurice Duruflé served as titular organist.
Participants for the organ masterclass will be selected by video, as indicated in the form below.
Organ Improvisation
Practical informations
Typical Day
9:00 a.m. - Coffee
9:30 a.m. - Choral conducting masterclass
10:45 a.m. - Break
11:00 a.m. - Gregorian chant rehearsal
12:00 p.m. - Mass
1:00 p.m. - Lunch
3:00 p.m. - Rehearsal
5:00 p.m. - Break
5:30 p.m. - Excursion
6:30 p.m. - Vespers
8:00 p.m. - Dinner
Places
Parish of Saint-Roch :
- Rehearsals & meals
- Liturgical celebrations
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Parish of Saint-Etienne-du-Mont :
- Organ master-classes
- Visit of the Church
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Pilgrimage to Notre-Dame des Victoires.
Repertoire
The participants will sing the Messe Solennelle by Louis Vierne for the closing Mass of the Choral Festival.
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The daily Masses will include Gregorian chant for the proper and the ordinary and polyphony from the French repertoire.
Attend
Register for the academy
Registration form below
Gala Evening
The main purpose of the International Academy is to allow the meeting of church musicians. We hope that it can benefit as many people as possible, Lux Amoris and the Catholic Sacred Music Project are organizing a gala evening on the evening of Friday
July 7, at the Parish of Saint-Roch.
This event will bring together all the participants of the Academy, the representatives of the partner associations, as well as all those who would like to take part in this meeting.
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On the occasion of this gala, the Academy will give a spiritual concert at 8 p.m. and this will be followed by a cocktail at 8:30 p.m.
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Registration required, registration link to come.
The Catholic Sacred Music Project
The Catholic Sacred Music Project was founded in 2021 to provide spiritual and musical training for Catholic musicians, with the aim of sparking a widespread revival of sacred music in the Church. Through intensive encounters with leading musical artists and the performance of masterpieces from the treasury of the Church's musical tradition, musicians gain the knowledge and skills they need to serve more the Church faithfully and to renew and develop its culture of sacred music. The inaugural event of the Catholic Sacred Music Project was a choral festival at the Cathedral-Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia in August 2021. Sir James MacMillan was the principal conductor, and the closing mass was attended by more than 2000 people and broadcast on EWTN.
The Catholic Sacred Music Project is sponsored by St. John the Baptist Parish in Allentown, New Jersey.
Peter A. Carter, Founder of CSMP
