John Romeri to Christ Cathedral

Eminent musician John Romeri, formerly in the Philadelphia diocesan office, is the new music director at Christ Cathedral, formerly Crystal Cathedral, in Garden Grove, California.

Read about it at the Orange County Register: “New music director for Christ Cathedral is ready to start creating beautiful sounds.”

“My hope is that everyone – Catholic or otherwise – can come to hear the finest of sacred music on our campus,” Romeri said. … Visitors to Christ Cathedral, he says, can expect to hear a variety of music during Mass – from Gregorian chants to folk and contemporary music.

 

Editor

Katharine E. Harmon, Ph.D., edits the blog, Pray Tell: Worship, Wit & Wisdom.

Please leave a reply.

Comments

6 responses to “John Romeri to Christ Cathedral”

  1. Greg Schockman

    Wow! What will happen to the musicians at the existing Cathedral in Orange? They have a really good choir there under Dr. Steven VW. Best wishes to Mr. Romeri.

    Reply
    1. Lesa Truxaw

      @Greg Schockman: The choir directed by Dr. Steven Van Wye at Holy Family Cathedral continues their good work! John Romeri has joined us to help develop a music program for the parish who worships onsite at the Arboretum of Christ Cathedral and in anticipation of Christ Cathedral dedication someday, at which time it will become the Cathedral for the Diocese of Orange and Holy Family Cathedral will become the pro-cathedral.

      Reply
  2. Scott Pluff

    I’m encouraged to see John speak of a variety of music, “from Gregorian chants to folk and contemporary music.” I have not known him to practice folk or contemporary music, but perhaps his situation is now different on the west coast than it was in more traditionally-minded east coast cities. May he be filled with every grace and blessing in this new ministry.

    Reply
    1. Doug O'Neill

      @Scott Pluff:
      On the contrary, John Romeri has championed new liturgical music from the finest composers, which perhaps does not fit the standard definition of “contemporary,” but is certainly so. Regarding folk music, many fine church musicians utilize folk-based hymnody – shape-note, etc., which is more folk than “folk.” It remains to be soon what he means by that, but I would say that he has certainly used folk and contemporary music in the past, by any musicological standard.

      Reply
      1. Scott Pluff

        @Doug O’Neill:
        Musicologically, you are correct that “folk” and “contemporary” have specific meanings. But when most church musicians hear these terms, they would think of music found in books like Gather, Spirit and Song, and similar; typically accompanied by piano/guitars/drums. There are cathedrals on the west coast where one can hear this type of music alongside more traditional choir and organ literature, even at major celebrations such as Holy Week and Ordinations. I wonder if that will be the case at Christ Cathedral, or if he meant something different.

      2. Doug O'Neill

        @Scott Pluff:
        Actually, I don’t think “contemporary” has a specific meaning at all, and we have touched upon something important – that certain terms like that are inadequate. All “contemporary” means is that it is something written in our day; there is no contemporary style at all. I don’t know how that term got co-opted for a certain style of pop-influenced church music. It makes no sense at all. Musically speaking, there was music written at the end of the 19th c. (Wagner, Strauss, anyone?), that is far more adventurous than what is often called contemporary. Heck, Bach is more adventurous. Victoria was more adventurous. Organum was more adventurous! The problem is that the 20th c. became a free-for-all in music history. There was no one predominant style; rather we speak of approaches like neo-Romanticism or serialism. These days, the style doesn’t matter at all; it’s all about quality and beauty, and there are still ways to measure that.

Posted

in

,

by

Editor

Tags:

Discover more from Home

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading