35th Annual Sacred Music Colloquium
University of St. Thomas
Saint Paul, Minnesota
June 23-28, 2025
Extensive training in Gregorian chant under a world-class faculty, with choices of chant classes for beginners to advanced, for men and women.
- Chant specialty breakout sessions on Gregorian modes and chant conducting
- Music specialty breakout sessions for organists and sessions on new music, vocal pedagogy, education, and chant theory, among others.
- Choral experience with one of three choirs singing sacred music of the masters such as Bruckner, Healey Willan, Stanford, Mozart, Guerrero, Langlais, Gallus, Bianciardi, Lasso, Victoria, Saint-Saëns, Gombert, and Dering, as well as a newly composed Spanish Mass Ordinary by Breck McGough. You’ll learn with our gifted faculty.
- Daily liturgies with careful attention to musical settings in English, Spanish and Latin
- Plenary talks in timely and relevant liturgical topics:
“‘Didn’t Vatican II Get Rid of That?’ A Narrative History of Changes in Sacred Music in America following the Promulgation of Sacrosanctum Concilium“ – Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka - Individual training in vocal production and technique (by appointment only)
- A one-of-a-kind Book of Scores, including chant and polyphony
- Book sales from the CMAA warehouse. We offer discounts on our books to CMAA members.
Rev. Robert Pasley, KCHS
President of the Church Music Association of America
Faculty Profile
Rev. Robert C. Pasley, KCHS, a priest of the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey, has been a member of the CMAA since his ordination, and has served as its director of liturgy for 17 years.
Introduced to CMAA by Msgr. Richard Schuler, then editor of Sacred Music, he has attended the Sacred Music Colloquium most of the years since the first in 1990.
Father Pasley received a B.A. in Philosophy from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Philadelphia, an M.A. in Dogmatic Theology from Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary, Emmitsburg, and an M.A. in Education from Seton Hall University. He was ordained by the Most Reverend George H. Guilfoyle in 1982.
On October 13, 2000 Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio appointed Fr. Pasley Rector of the newly established Parish of Mater Ecclesiae, Berlin, New Jersey (materecclesiae.org), the first diocesan-run Extraordinary Form parish in the United States.
Rev. Michael Connolly
Assistant Chaplain
Faculty Profile
Fr. Michael Connolly, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, was ordained in St. Patrick’s Cathedral by Timothy Cardinal Dolan on May 26th, 2018.
Fr. Connolly studied music and philosophy at Fordham University before attending St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie, where his mind and heart were opened to the rich treasury of Catholic sacred music by his professor and Schola Cantorum director, Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka.
Fr. Connolly has participated in several CMAA panel discussions and video-conference presentations in English and Spanish including a Spanish-language presentation on the Hierarchy of the Sung Liturgy. Fr. Connolly also had the honor of celebrating a Sung Mass in Spanish in Honor of Our Lady for the 2019 CMAA Colloquium in Philadelphia.
Fr. Connolly is now the Pastor of the Church of the Holy Trinity and the Chaplain at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic High School in Poughkeepsie, New York.
Most Reverend Andrew Cozzens
Bishop of the Diocese of Crookston
Faculty Profile
The Most Rev. Andrew Cozzens was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Crookston by Pope Francis in 2021, after serving there as Auxiliary Bishop.
Born in 1968, Bishop Cozzens graduated from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, where he experienced a deepening of the faith through the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. After college, Bishop Cozzens served as a traveling missionary to young people around the country with Twin Cities-based NET Ministries, putting on retreats in parishes and schools, while engaged in his own vocational discernment. After serving with NET Ministries, he joined the Companions of Christ, a fraternity of diocesan priests in Saint Paul, and worked for Saint Paul’s Outreach, leading college Bible study groups.
After his year of discernment, he was accepted into the Saint Paul Seminary. Four years later, in 1997, he was ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Bishop Cozzens served as Parochial Vicar at the Cathedral of Saint Paul and then Faribault Catholic Community (now Divine Mercy) before being sent to Rome for doctoral studies. On his return to Minnesota, Bishop Cozzens served as a Professor of Sacramental Theology and a Formator at the Saint Paul Seminary from 2006 until 2013.
In the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Bishop Cozzens served as Vicar for Catholic Education and supervised the Archdiocesan Synod Process while overseeing the offices of Latino Ministry, Evangelization, and Marriage, Family and Life. He currently serves as the chair of the board for NET Ministries, St. Paul’s Outreach, The Institute for Priestly Formation and The Seminary Formation Council.
Additionally, Bishop Cozzens is the chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis, where on behalf of the bishops he leads the ongoing National Eucharistic Revival.
Rev. Austin Dominic Litke, O.P.
Assistant Professor, Catholic Studies, University of St. Thomas
Faculty Profile
After a year at St. Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in Indiana, he entered the Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominicans. He completed his theological studies and received a Licentiate in Sacred Theology at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., and was ordained a priest in 2011.
After assignments as chaplain at Sloan-Kettering Memorial Cancer Hospital and New York University, Litke was assigned to Rome, where he pursued a Doctorate in Sacred Theology and Patristic Sciences at the Pontifical Patristics Institute, the “Augustinianum,” of the Lateran University. For the last two academic years, Litke taught at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., and this academic year is an adjunct professor and spiritual director at the Saint Paul Seminary and a visiting professor of Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas.
Fr. Mark Bachmann, O.S.B.
Choirmaster, Clear Creek Abbey
Faculty Profile
After earning a Bachelor’s degree in liberal arts, Brother Mark Bachmann entered Fontgombault, a Benedictine monastery in France, where he was ordained a priest in 1991.
Sent as one of the 13 founders of Clear Creek monastery in 1999, he has served as choirmaster at the monastery since 2009.
Dr. Horst Buchholz
Director of Sacred Music, Archdiocese of Detroit and Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Detroit
Faculty Profile
Horst Buchholz, Past Vice President of the CMAA Board of Directors, received his first musical training in a boys’ choir in his native Germany and studied organ and sacred music at the Berlin College of Church Music and the University of Arts, and received Doctor of Music degree in conducting from the Indiana University School of Music.
Dr. Buchholz has held positions in cathedrals and churches throughout the United States and Europe, including the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver, Colorado. he has served as a member of the organ faculty at Cleveland State University, Associate Professor of Music and Director of Schola Cantorum at St. John Vianney Seminary, and conducting professor and organ faculty member at Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver.
Dr. Susan Treacy
Professor of Music Emerita at Ave Maria University
Faculty Profile
Susan Treacy, Ph.D., is Professor of Music Emerita at Ave Maria University, from which she retired in July of 2019. Prior to AMU, she taught at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Luther College, and Emory University, where she was a Mellon Faculty Fellow in the Humanities.
Dr. Treacy holds the Ph.D. in historical musicology from the University of North Texas; her B.Mus. and M.Mus. degrees are from Oberlin Conservatory and the Manhattan School of Music.
At Ave Maria University Dr. Treacy taught music history, art song literature, special topics courses, sacred music courses, and Gregorian chant; in addition, she directed the Women’s Schola Gregoriana and the Men’s Schola Gregoriana.
David Hughes
Director of Music at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, Littleton, Colorado
Faculty Profile
David Hughes is a composer, conductor, and organist who is in international demand as a recitalist and an instructor of Gregorian chant.
He served for thirteen years as Organist and Choirmaster at St. Mary’s Church in Norwalk, Connecticut, where he developed a program of seven choirs, including the professional St. Mary’s Schola Cantorum, the volunteer St. Mary’s Choir, and the St. Mary’s Student Schola, a comprehensive program of musical education for children.
He directs Viri Galilæi, an ensemble of men from the tristate New York area who gather weekly to sing Vespers and medieval polyphony from facsimiles of original manuscripts. Hughes is Director of Music at St. John Fisher Seminary in Stamford, Connecticut, and serves as a consultant to several parishes in Connecticut looking to expand their musical programs.
Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka
Associate Professor and the Director of Sacred Music at St. Patrick’s Seminary, Menlo Park, California
Faculty Profile
Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka, Vice President of CMAA, is an associate professor and the director of sacred music at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California, where she holds the William P. Mahrt Chair in Sacred Music and directs the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music.
Dr. Donelson-Nowicka serves as a consultant to the USCCB’s Committee on Divine Worship and is the director of The Archbishop’s Schola, directing and singing for Masses celebrated by Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone around the Archdiocese of San Francisco. She also directs the Schola Cantorum of St. Patrick’s Seminary, as well as a schola cantorum composed of professional and amateur singers at Mater Dolorosa church in South San Francisco. She has taught hundreds of sacred music workshops around the U.S., and teaches regularly for religious orders, including the Benedictine Monks at San Benedetto in Monte, Norcia, Italy.
Mary Ann Carr Wilson
Soprano, CEO Canticle
Faculty Profile
Having trained under experts in Gregorian chant and Renaissance music and having performed in several early music ensembles, Mary Ann served as Music Director at three different parishes in the San Diego diocese over a period of twenty years.
In 2019, Mary Ann founded a new apostolate, “Canticle”, where she now focuses on teaching others in the U.S. and Mexico about her love for sacred music, particularly in programs for children. She directs the premier youth schola for Canticle, the Jubilate Deo Choir, comprised of forty young Catholics who study and pray sacred music in the Catholic tradition.
Mary Ann has been a pioneer of a children’s program called Chant Camp, a week-long fun and immersive experience of sacred music and liturgical catechesis. Her professional collaborations in the area of sacred music include CMAA (faculty and board member), the Benedict XVI Institute, and ChantWorks.
Dr. MeeAe Cecilia Nam
Soprano, Professor of Voice at Eastern Michigan University
Faculty Profile
Dr. MeeAe Cecilia Nam, known for her musical versatility, sensitivity and genuine interpretation (the Denver Post), has had a rich performance experience as a soloist in recitals, oratorios, sacred music, chamber and orchestral concerts, and stage works throughout the United States, Germany, Austria, and South Korea.
In addition to her position as Professor of Voice at Eastern Michigan University, she has been on the faculty of the Church Music Association of America and at the Vianden International Summer Festival and School in Luxembourg. She has also been Guest Artist and Clinician at numerous institutions.
Dr. Nam published a critical edition of Gouvy’s songs in two volumes with EC Schirmer in 2018. These two volumes are a unique and exclusive publication, and a valuable contribution to song literature. They are the result of her extensive scholarship and research in France, Germany, and the United States.
Christopher Berry
Director of Sacred Music and Organist at St. Stanislaus Oratory, Milwaukee
Faculty Profile
Christopher Berry studied with James Higdon at the University of Kansas and Jesse Eschbach at the University of North Texas. He spent a summer in Paris studying with Marie-Claire Alain and Marie-Madeleine Duruflé. He received a Premier Prix at Rueil-Malmaison Conservatory.
During his tenure as Music Director at the Pontifical North American College, Mr. Berry conducted Masses at St. Peter’s Basilica, and a private concert for patrons of the Chicago Symphony in the Sistine Chapel. He has led two choir tours of England with the Church of the Incarnation Choir in Dallas, with residencies at Westminster Abbey, Lichfield Cathedral, and St. George’s, Windsor. Prior to his work at St. Stanislaus, Mr. Berry spent 8 years building an impressive choral program at the Basilica of St. Josaphat in Milwaukee.
Mr. Berry is Professor of Organ at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI and maintains an
active private teaching studio.
Michael Olbash
Director of Sacred Music at Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary, Weston, Massachusetts, and St. Michael Parish, Hudson, MA
Faculty Profile
Nationally recognized for his leadership in sacred music education, Michael Olbash founded the Boston Chapter of Choristers Guild, for which he served as president for eight years, served for many years as a festival supervisor and member of the Board of Directors of the American Federation Pueri Cantores, and currently directs the upper school chorus at Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Still River, Massachusetts.
An active member of the American Guild of Organists (AGO), he holds the
Choirmaster and Colleague certificates from the AGO, has lectured at both regional and national conventions, and is the recipient of both the AGO Choirmaster Prize and the S. Lewis
Elmer Award. He holds music degrees from Harvard University and St. Joseph’s College of Indiana, and resides in Massachusetts with his wife Mary Ann and their four children.
Dr. Nathan Knutson
Director and Professor of Sacred Music, St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Philadelphia
Faculty Profile
As seminary professor, Nathan Knutson holds the Francesco Chair of Sacred Music and teaches a wide variety of courses in Church music, with particular focus on “Singing the Mass”, the pipe organ, and Gregorian chant.
As a liturgical musician, Knutson has traveled extensively, performing, leading workshops and liturgies at the parish, cathedral, diocesan and collegiate levels, notably St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, as well as religious houses of formation in Italy, France and the United States. He has served as Diocesan Master of Ceremonies, assistant to several bishops, and is an active consultant on organ projects throughout the United States.
Classically trained, Nathan enjoys making music with his talented wife and six children. His piano trio (levatetrio.com/) stems from a love of music as bearer of joy and true art.
William Riccio
Master of Ceremonies, Norwalk, Connecticut
Faculty Profile
William Riccio joins us again on staff for the Colloquium as Master of
Ceremonies during the week. His extensive experience with both forms of the Roman Rite have made his assistance invaluable to the CMAA.
Bill will work with celebrants and servers to assure the seamless coordination of all our liturgies.
Many participants have gained valuable experience and knowledge about serving at both Extraordinary and Ordinary Form Masses in past years by serving with Bill during our liturgies. We know this will again be true this year.
Bill Riccio is a frequent contributor to the New Liturgical Movement, offering articles about the Traditional Latin Mass. He serves as Master of Ceremonies at St. Mary’s in Norwalk, CT.
Dr. Lucas Tappan
Director of Liturgy and Music, Most Pure Heart of Mary, Topeka, Kansas
Faculty Profile
Lucas Tappan is the founder and president of the Catholic Academy of Sacred Music, founder and director of the Most Pure Heart of Mary Schola Cantorum and the Director of Liturgy and Music for Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Topeka, Kansas. Through the apostolate of the Academy he and his team work with around 200 students throughout the week during the school year, teaching sight-singing, ear-training, music theory and all the many wonderful aspects of Sacred Music in the Roman Catholic tradition.
He graduated from Benedictine in 2004 with degrees in Music and Theology. He earned his Master of Music in Church Music (organ performance) in 2009 and his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Church Music (choral conducting) from the University of Kansas.
In 2012, he was privileged to spend six weeks observing the training of choristers at the Madeleine Choir School at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City, Utah — an experience that has greatly shaped the way he trains choristers.
In January of 2016 the MPHM Schola Cantorum traveled to Rome to sing at St. Peter’s Basilica — joing the Sistine Chapel Choir — alongside several other children’s choirs from the Americas and Europe for the first Children’s Festival for Epiphany, sponsored by the Fondazione Pro Musica e Arte Sacra.
Dr. Tappan speaks and teaches nationally on the topic of children’s choirs and church music.
Dr. Charles Weaver
Organist and Director of Music, St. Mary's, Norwalk, Connecticut
Faculty Profile
Charles Weaver is on the faculty of the Juilliard School, where he teaches courses in performance practice, music history, historical music theory, and improvisation. He has performed widely as an accompanist on lute and theorbo, with a particular interest in seventeenth-century opera. Of his conducting for New York’s Dell’Arte Opera, The Observer remarked, “It was amazing to hear what warm and varied sounds he coaxed from the ensemble.”
As an orchestral musician, he has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Virginia Symphony. He also works with the New York Continuo Collective, an ensemble that mounts workshop productions of 17th-century vocal music.
Since 2019 he has served as organist and director of music at St. Mary’s Church in Norwalk, Connecticut. He joined the St. Mary’s Schola in 2012, under the direction of David Hughes, and served from 2016 to 2019 as associate director of music. Before coming to St. Mary’s, he was director the Holy Innocents’ Schola in New York City and previously sang at St. Agnes, also in New York, where he had the life-altering experience, in 2006, of encountering plainchant as a living tradition.
He holds a Ph.D. in music theory from the City University of New York. His research interests include the history of Gregorian Chant in performance (especially the question of rhythm) and the history of the theory of harmony. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and four children.
Alfred Calabrese
Director of Music, St. Rita Catholic Church
Faculty Profile
Alfred Calabrese, called “One of the finest conductors of his generation” by American maestro Robert Shaw, enjoys a diverse career as conductor, educator, composer, scholar, and church musician. He has been director of choral activities at Southern Methodist University, Emory University, and Brevard College, a Visiting Professor at Indiana University, guest lecturer at the University of Notre Dame, the University of South Carolina, and the Conservatoire de Versailles, Gran Parc. Since 2006 he has been the Director of Music at Saint Rita Catholic Church in Dallas, TX, where he oversees a music program with six choirs, professional singers and organists, and five full staff members. In 2019 he created the St. Rita Choral Academy, a comprehensive choral school for children from kindergarten to eighth grade.
Calabrese holds the Master of Music and Doctor of Music degrees in Conducting from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University where he studied with Jan Harrington and Robert Porco. His undergraduate studies in theory, ear training, and counterpoint with Robert Levin at SUNY Purchase are in the lineage of Nadia Boulanger. He has prepared choirs for several prominent conductors including John Nelson, Yoel Levi, David Stahl, and Sir David Willcocks, and in the early 1990’s he was an assistant conductor to Robert Shaw and the Grammy © Award winning Atlanta Symphony Chorus. He worked in close collaboration with Maestro Shaw for three years, rehearsing the Chorus in works as diverse as Mahler Symphony #2, #3, and #8; Berlioz’ Romeo et Juliette; the Janáček Glagolitic Mass, the Verdi Quattro Pezzi Sacri, and the annual “Christmas with Robert Shaw” concerts. Calabrese was also the conductor of the Charleston Symphony Chorus in the 1995-96 season, leading the orchestra in its children’s concerts (“Cushion Concerts”) and for the annual Christmas Concerts in the historic Gaillard Center.
While in Atlanta, Calabrese also founded The Britten Choir, a professional chamber choir that performed an eclectic repertoire for enthusiastic audiences in the region and sang at the 1996 ACDA regional convention in Norfolk, VA. Their 1995 recording, Magnifical and Mighty, received rave reviews from composer Ned Rorem (“Your performance of the Madrigals is supple, intelligent, caring, and tonally lovely. I couldn’t be happier”). Fanfare Magazine stated that The Britten Choir “compares favorably with The Sixteen and The Finzi Choir.” LISTEN
Their recording of Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb has been heard frequently on NPR’s “Performance Today”.
Dr. Elena Bird Zolnick
Director of Sacred Music, St. Paul Seminary
Faculty Profile
Dr. Elena Bird Zolnick is currently the Director of Sacred Music at the St. Paul Seminary at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she leads choral ensembles and teaches private voice and various elements of musical leadership. She also directs the Liturgical Choir at the University of St. Thomas. Additionally, Dr. Zolnick is on the faculty of the Extraordinary Music Workshop in Krakow, Poland, where she presents on vocal pedagogy and conducts one of the international choirs. Prior to her work in academia, Dr. Zolnick performed as a classical vocal soloist in opera and oratorio around the country, and still performs locally.
Elena holds a Doctorate in Voice Performance and Choral Conducting from the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Marie Rubis Bauer
Director of Music, St. Cecilia Cathedral, Omaha
Faculty Profile
Marie Rubis Bauer is Archdiocesan Director of Music – Cathedral Organist at Saint Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha, Nebraska which houses the landmark Martin Pasi, Op. 14 dual temperament pipe organ. Rubis Bauer joined the staff at Saint Cecilia as Cathedral Organist in 2003. Since 2005 she has directed the Cathedral and Archdiocesan Choirs and serves as Director of the School of Music in the Saint Cecilia Institute for Sacred Liturgy, Music and the Arts, which offers course work in liturgy and music; applied lessons in piano, voice, harp, violin, and flute; and an organ academy tutoring twenty youth, adult, and parish organists in the region each year.
Under the direction of Rubis Bauer the Saint Cecilia Cathedral Choir and its professional core, the Schola Caeciliana, sings at all solemn liturgies in Saint Cecilia cathedral and presents major sacred choral works; recent performances include the Mozart Requiem, Duruflé Requiem, Fauré Requiem, Handel Ode to Saint Cecilia, Charpentier Te Deum, Mozart Mass in D, K194, Buxtehude Magnificat and the medieval liturgical drama, The Shepherds. The Cathedral Choir recently accepted an invitation to join the Sistine Chapel Choir and other select choirs in singing for the Final Mass of the Jubilee Year of Mercy with Pope Francis in November, 2016. The Cathedral Choir combines the resources of adult and advanced youth volunteers and professional section leaders, with an average age of 25-30 years.
Dr. Jacob Benda
Professor and Director of Sacred Music, Liturgy and Sacred Arts, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN
Faculty Profile
Jacob Benda is an active church musician, concert organist, published author, editor, and organ consultant. Former Dean of the Twin Cities Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, Dr. Benda serves as the current President of the Ruth and Clarence Mader Memorial Scholarship Fund based in Los Angeles. In 2015, he earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Louisiana State University under the mentorship of Professor Herndon Spillman, protégé of Maurice Duruflé.
Featured as a solo recitalist and lecturer at universities, festivals, and cathedrals throughout the world, recent highlights include performances with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, the University of St. Thomas Festival Festival Orchestra, solo recitals given at Boğaziçi Üniversitesi in Istanbul, Turkey, the Church of Divine Mercy in Kraków, Poland, the University of North Texas, the University of Arizona, Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans, and lectures presented for the Graduate Organ Seminar at Yale University and the 2023 International Sacred Music Conference held at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Kraków, Poland. Jacob is represented by Seven Eight Artists.
Anders Bergman
Music Director, Epiphany of Our Lord, Tampa
Faculty Profile
Dr. Samuel Backman
Director of Sacred Music, Holy Cross Catholic Church, Minneapolis
Faculty Profile
Samuel Backman is a composer, conductor, and organist based in Minneapolis. He currently serves as Director of Sacred Music at Holy Cross Catholic Church, where is conductor and
founder of the Holy Cross Choir, St. Helena Singers, and Tenebrae Choir. Backman’s extensive
experience as an organ recitalist includes performances at conferences hosted by the American
Guild of Organists and the Church Music Association of America. He has also been featured in
radio performances on the nationally-syndicated broadcast PipedreamsⓇ, hosted by Michael
Barone. Backman’s compositional output features works for organ, choir, piano, chamber
ensembles, and voice. Recent compositions include a full-length organ symphony, Symfonia
Kolęd, and seven-movement song cycle for organ and voice entitled Through the Flames. His
compositions and arrangements are available for purchase at www.samuelbackman.com under
his self-published label, Suspirans Music.
Colloquium Schedule
Sunday, June 22
Monday, June 23
Tuesday, June 24
Wednesday, June 25
Thursday, June 26
Friday, June 27
*** “Didn’t Vatican II Get Rid of That?” A Narrative History of Changes in Sacred Music in America following the Promulgation of Sacrosanctum Concilium – Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka
Saturday, June 28
Chant Course Descriptions
Fundamentals for Men and Women (Director, Michael Olbash):
This course in Gregorian chant is intended for real chant beginners: both those who can read modern notation and those with no musical training.
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Participants will learn how to read the four-line staff, the names of the neumes, and how to navigate the intervals with solfege. Rhythm will be introduced. Course material will include the Ordinaries of the Mass and one Proper.
Intermediate for Men and Women (Director, Dr. Lucas Tappan):
This course offers continued study in Gregorian chant and is intended for those who have some background in chant but do not sing chant on a regular basis.
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This is an intermediate course whose primary aim, like the foundation course, will not be performance during the liturgy. Participants will be responsible for singing the Ordinaries of the Mass and will be prepared to sing four chant Propers during the week in addition to the Mass Ordinaries.
Schola (two sections: Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka, Women; Fr. Mark Bachmann, Men):
This course is intended for advanced singers who sing chant regularly.
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The two scholas (men, women) will be responsible for the bulk of the more difficult Mass Propers sung during the week.
Advanced Seminar on Chant Conducting (Director, David Hughes)
This course is intended for advanced singers (both men and women) who wish to continue their study of Gregorian chant, particularly on conducting and interpretation. This class will also focus on study rather than performance.
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This choir will prepare four Mass Propers for liturgies during the week.
NOTE: A quick review of Gregorian notation will be offered, but it is expected that the singer will have a good basic understanding and ability to read Gregorian square-note notation.
Chant Repertory
Chant Choir Assignments
Women's Schola - Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Introit, Weber English
Communion, Weber, English
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Gradual, Domine, praeveniste eum, Latin
Offertory, Mi verdad, Gorbitz, Spanish
Thursday, June 26, 2025
Tract: Absolve, Latin
Responsory, Libera me, Latin
Thursday Vespers
Psalmody, Latin (with Men’s schola)
Friday, June 27, 2025
Gradual – Dulcis et rectus, Latin
Saturday, June 28, 2025
Introit – Dicit Dominus Petro, Latin
Men's Schola - Fr. Mark Bachmann
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Gradual – Priusquam, Latin
Offertory – The Just Man Shall Flourish, Weber, English
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Introit – Este es el siervo fiel, Gorbitz, Spanish
Alleluia – Fac nos innocuam, Latin
Thursday, June 26, 2025
Gradual – Requiem, Latin
Communion – Lux aeterna, Latin
Thursday, Vespers
Psalmody, Latin (with Women’s Schola)
Friday, June 27, 2025
Alleluia – Tollite iugum, Latin
Offertory – Improperium, Latin
Saturday, June 28, 2025
Offertory: – Mihi autem, Latin
Conducting - David Hughes
Thursday, June 26, 2025
Offertory – O Pie Deus, Latin
Friday, June 27, 2025
Introit – Cogitationes Cordis eius, Latin
Saturday, June 28, 2025
Gradual – In omnem, Latin
Intermediate Schola - Lucas Tappan
Thursday, June 26, 2025
Introit – Requiem, Latin
Saturday, June 28, 2025
Communion: Simon Ioannis
Beginning Schola - Michael Olbash
Friday, June 27, 2025
Communion: Dico vobis, Latin
Tutti
Thursday, June 26, 2025
Kyrie, Sequence, Sanctus, Agnus
Polyphony Repertory
Polyphony Choir Assignments
Polyphony 1 - Christopher Berry
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Motet at the Offertory – How beauteous are their feet, Stanford
Thursday, June 26, 2025
Motet at the Communion – Ecce quomodo, Gallus
Friday, June 27, 2025
Missa Laudate Dominum, Lasso – Sanctus, Agnus Dei
Saturday, June 28, 2025
Haydn Lord Nelson Mass (tutti)
Motet at the Communion – Surge Petre, Gombert
Polyphony 2 - Horst Buchholz
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Mass for St. Joseph, Kyrie, Sanctus McGough
Motet at the Offertory – Adjutor et protector, McGough
Thursday, June 26, 2025
Motet at the Communion – Versa est in luctum, Bianciardi
Friday, June 27, 2025
Missa Laudate Dominum, Credo, Lasso
Motet at the Communion – Ave verum corpus, Dering
Saturday, June 28, 2025
Haydn Lord Nelson Mass (tutti)
Polyphony 3 - Alfred Calabrese
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Motet at the Communion – Caro mea, Guerrero
Friday, June 27, 2025
Missa Laudate Dominum, Kyrie, Gloria, Lasso
Motet at the Offertory, O vos omnes, Victoria (Tenebrae Responsory)
Saturday, June 28, 2025
Haydn Lord Nelson Mass (tutti)
Motet at the Offertory – Tu es Petrus, Saint-Saëns
Section Leader Ensemble
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
Motet at the Communion – Inter natos mulierum, Mozart (conducted by Buchholz)
Thursday, June 26, 2025
Magnificat Primi Toni, De Rore (conducted by Calabrese)
Tutti
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
St. Teresa Mass, Healey Willan
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
Mass for St. Joseph, McGough
Saturday, June 28, 2025
Haydn Lord Nelson Mass (tutti)
Ave Maria, Bruckner
Pricing, Scholarships, and Terms
University of St. Thomas | 2115 Summit Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105
All registrations must be received by June 9, 2025. After that point, you may contact us by email to inquire about any late registration possibilities. Note: In previous years, we sold out early, so don’t delay.
Early Bird
until March 31- + CMAA Member: $575
- Non-member: $625
- Student/Seminarian: $300
- Companion: $490
Regular
April 1 – May 1- CMAA Member: $625
- Non-member: $675
- Student/Seminarian: $325
- Companion: $540
Late
after May 1- CMAA Member: $675
- Non-member: $725
- Student/Seminarian: $350
- Companion: $590
All classes, liturgies, and sessions plus dinner on June 23, 2025, and lunches Tuesday – Friday are included. The closing lunch is optional and is offered as a separate item on the registration. Breakfasts on Tuesday – Saturday and Evening meals on Tuesday – Friday are provided for those staying in dormitory housing. Commuters may purchase meals at the cafeteria on a pay as you go basis.
With a current CMAA membership, the members’ rate is available to you; it is not transferable to another person. If your parish has a CMAA parish membership, please contact your Director of Music for the discount code.
Not yet a member? Join now and receive the benefits of membership for a full year.
Note: All registrants must be eighteen (18) years old on or before June 23, 2025, unless accompanied by a fully-registered parent. If a parent does not want to participate in choirs, the parent may register as a companion with a lower rate.
All scholarships are made possible by generous CMAA donors. If you are interested in sponsoring a musician, priest or seminarian’s attendance, please write to us at gm@musicasacra.com or make a donation to our Scholarship Fund.
Scholarship Assistance may be available for partial tuition for persons or parishes of limited means. To apply for a scholarship, please see information about scholarship applications or request a packet from the CMAA office by calling (804) 877-1721. All application materials must be received at our office by April 15, 2025.
SCHOLARSHIP RECOMMENDATION FORM
Send both forms to us at:
Church Music Association of America
3209 Road 310, Kiln, MS 39556
or you may email the completed forms to us at gm@musicasacra.com. In order to process your application, we must have both forms received by the deadline. If you have not received confirmation that your application was received in our office by April 15, please email us at gm@musicasacra.com to ensure you don’t miss the deadline.
Please download this instruction page for clergy and seminarians regarding participation in the liturgies of the Colloquium.
Information regarding the vestment colors, as well as information regarding letters of good standing, are detailed in the instruction sheet.
If you have questions, please contact us at gm@musicasacra.com.
Requests received in writing at the CMAA Office emailed or postmarked on or before June 9 will receive a refund less the non-refundable $75 deposit. After that date, partial refunds are given only in the form of a credit toward registration for the 2026 Colloquium. Credits are not carried forward for more than one year. Refunds may be processed after the Colloquium. All requests for credit must be received by email by June 22 to be considered for any credit (gm@musicasacra.com). Requests after June 9 may only receive partial credit, depending on charges to the CMAA for meals, housing, and other expenses.
No refund of any portion can be made after June 23, 2025, regardless of the reason, as the CMAA will be liable for all charges and costs once the event has begun.
University of St. Thomas
2115 Summit Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55105
Housing & Meals
Dormitory housing is available for all attendees at the University of St. Thomas, Saint Paul, MN. All UST housing costs are the same, whether single- or double-accommodation (that is why there is only one pricing).
Please note that all rooms will have a shared bathroom. Linens will be provided.
When you stay in the dormitories, your breakfasts Tuesday – Saturday and dinners Tuesday – Friday will also be provided in the campus cafeteria.
Dormitory rooms are limited, so don’t delay with housing registration.
The CMAA cannot promise full access to all spaces for those with mobility issues. If you need assistance or require special accommodations in housing, you must inform us in advance so that we can see to what extent we can accommodate you. We cannot provide anything beyond what is available at the university.
5 Nights
- Single room, with linens $610
6 Nights
- Single room, with linens $708
7 Nights
- Single room, with linens $806
Additionals
Closing Lunch
$30
Special Dietary Needs
Vocal Coaching
$40
Maps and Directions
Join the CMAA today:
Members receive special discounts on all CMAA events including the Colloquium.
As a member, you’ll be part of a vibrant community of musicians, clergy, and supporters in pursuit of high musical ideals in Catholic liturgy. Additionally, members of the Church Music Association enjoy:
- Exclusive discounted pricing for events
- Quarterly Issues of Sacred Music, the acclaimed members-only journal
- The first to preview and purchase new compositions and publications
- Specially curated content right to your inbox
Who should join? If you are interested in sacred music, you’re invited.