Sacred Music at Notre Dame

Sacred Music at Notre Dame A 21st-century academic training program at the University of Notre Dame that prepares professional musicians for work in all Christian denominations.

Please visit our blog at blogs.nd.edu/sacredmusicnd

One of the highlights of being in Rome is spending time with our dear friends at Pontificio Istituto di Musica Sacra and...
05/29/2026

One of the highlights of being in Rome is spending time with our dear friends at Pontificio Istituto di Musica Sacra and learning from their faculty. This year, we enjoyed a chant workshop led by Inga Behrendt and a conducting masterclass with Walter Marzili and joined them for their final Mass of the academic year. Grazie multo e alla prossima!

In the last week, our students enjoyed opportunities to learn from artists based in Rome. Last Saturday, our voice stude...
05/28/2026

In the last week, our students enjoyed opportunities to learn from artists based in Rome. Last Saturday, our voice students were coached by Valerie Dueck at St. Stephen's School. Bravo, tutti!

Photo Credit: A. J. Lyon

Yesterday our organ students visited Santa Maria in Trastevere and played the organ built by Testa in 1702. The church’...
05/28/2026

Yesterday our organ students visited Santa Maria in Trastevere and played the organ built by Testa in 1702. The church’s organist, Armando Carideo is a respected musicologist who has published critical editions of a lot of Italian renaissance and baroque keyboard and instrumental music. Yesterday our students performed from his editions of music by Girolamo Frescobaldi, Paolo Quagliati, Giovanni Maria Trabaci and Bernardo Pasquini.

Yesterday, the organ students from Sacred Music at Notre Dame had the opportunity to play two of the organs at the Basil...
05/27/2026

Yesterday, the organ students from Sacred Music at Notre Dame had the opportunity to play two of the organs at the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome. The Biagi organ was built in 1598 with additions by Testa in 1676, Traeri in 1731 and Alari in 1747. The Morettini organ was built 1886 and is the only romantic style instrument we will play on this trip.

This evening, organ professor Kola Owolabi was invited to play the prelude and postlude for Vespers at Saint Peter’s Bas...
05/24/2026

This evening, organ professor Kola Owolabi was invited to play the prelude and postlude for Vespers at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, improvising on Veni Creator Spiritus and Factus est repente for the prelude and closing with the fugue from Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 547. Afterward, the students were invited to sing Palestrina's Sicut cervus, led by visiting professor Jerry Blackstone.

05/23/2026

Yesterday, art historian Andrew Horn led our students on a tour of early Christian art and architecture in Rome. After studying Rome's musical history this spring with Professor Michael Carlson, students directly experienced the acoustics in each of the churches. Here first-year MSM student Tyler Kim conducts the finale of Carissimi's Jepthe at Santi Cosma e Damiano.

05/21/2026

A highlight of our trip so far has been a visit to the Basilica of San Petronio in Bologna where each of our organ students and professors had the opportunity to play the two organs: an instrument by Lorenzo da Prato built in 1475 (the oldest playable Italian renaissance instrument) and an organ by Baldassarre Malamini built in 1596.

In this video we are singing Palestrina’s Sicut Cervus, with Professor Kola Owolabi accompanying on the da Prato organ. Professor Owolabi improvises an introduction in a style which fuses elements of the intonations of Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli with the style of Sweelinck’s toccatas.

This afternoon, organ students from Sacred Music at Notre Dame played the Luca Neri organ, built in 1650, at Oratorio di...
05/19/2026

This afternoon, organ students from Sacred Music at Notre Dame played the Luca Neri organ, built in 1650, at Oratorio di Sant’Antonio in L’Aquila. We explored music by Bernardo Pasquini, Giovanni Salvatore, Bernardo Storace, Johann Jacob Froberger and William Byrd.

University of Notre Dame organ students had a wonderful experience this morning playing the Fedeli organ, built in 1726,...
05/19/2026

University of Notre Dame organ students had a wonderful experience this morning playing the Fedeli organ, built in 1726, at the Basilica di San Bernardino in L’Aquila, Italy. We explored repertoire by Girolamo Frescobaldi, Paolo Quagliati, Michelangelo Rossi, Johann Jacob Froberger and Johann Kaspar Kerll. Our DMA student A. J. Lyon played one of his own recent compositions that was written for Notre Dame’s 17th century Italian organ.

Congratulations to the 2026 SMND graduates!
05/18/2026

Congratulations to the 2026 SMND graduates!

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Notre Dame, IN
46556

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