Seven Days of Musical Heaven

I got back late Sunday night from the Church Music Association of America's annual Sacred Music Colloquium at Loyola University in Chicago. It's been described as "seven days of musical heaven," and I'd say that's fairly accurate!

In addition to the chance to work with a fantastic group of professional musicians, attendees were able to attend daily Mass in LU's Madonna della Strada Chapel, including an Ordinary Form Mass celebrated in Latin by the Archbishop of Chicago, Francis Cardinal George. Practice in both Gregorian chant and Renaissance polyphony (which, for me, is particular challenging, as my sight-reading skills are extremely poor) occupied large parts of each day, with lectures and the Divine Office rounding out the proceedings.

We were also blessed to have the Canons Regular of St John Cantius in our midst. Kudos to Fr Frank Phillips, Fr Scott Haynes, and the brothers for all their hard work in making the Colloquium Masses among the most reverent I've had the opportunity to attend!

Most of the Colloquium was filmed by a crew from Corpus Christi Watershed for a documentary, and several attendees, including yours truly, were interviewed. No indication right now as to when and where the documentary will be shown, so, for the time being, you'll have to be content with this short video from the Colloquium that CCW posted on YouTube:




If you're curious as to just what all this chant and "Polly Phony" stuff sounds like, Carl Dierschow has posted his MP3s from the Colloquium here. A few photos have also appeared, with, no doubt, more to follow.

First Things First

Welcome to Clamator in Deserta! I'm your congenial host, Chris Allen, and I hope you'll like what you see here.

By way of background: I am the choir director (currently sans choir, unfortunately) of a small Catholic parish in the Mojave Desert of California (hence the name of the blog: "a man crying out in the desert," though sometimes I wonder whether it shouldn't be "Lachrymator in Deserta"—"a man weeping in the desert"). I am a recent convert to the Church (baptized Easter Vigil 2005); I'm single, but currently in a relationship.

I plan to focus mostly on liturgy and music in my posts, but don't be surprised if I go off on a tangent now and then (after all, isn't that the purpose of a blog?). Posts probably will come in fits and spurts as I find time to get online; again, the nature of the beast.

So, take a look around, keep your feet off the furniture :-D, and, again, welcome!