Colloquium Dos Equis

My registration's in for the 2010 CMAA Colloquium, or, since it's the 20th edition, "Colloquium Dos Equis" (XX). This'll be my fourth journey to "Seven Days of Musical Heaven," this time at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.

Sacred, Beautiful, and Universal

Back in July, I mentioned that I had attended the CMAA Sacred Music Colloquium in Chicago, at which Corpus Christi Watershed had filmed a documentary.

CCW released the completed documentary, entitled Sacred, Beautiful, and Universal (from the three requirements for sacred music given by St Pius X in Tra le sollecitudini), online yesterday (embedded video courtesy of Vimeo):



The documentary is also going to be available on DVD, along with a bonus interview with Dr William Mahrt, president of the CMAA (and, from personal experience, a wonderful lecturer). More info on the DVD, as well as a CD of the music, can be found at the Music for the Liturgy website.

All You Nations, Clap Your Hands

Courtesy of Aristotle Esguerra of The Recovering Choir Director, via the MusicaSacra.com fora:

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.