Introduction

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The music program at Saint Patrick’s Church strives to carry out the Church’s mandate to preserve and foster the great treasury of sacred music, to the greater glory of God, and for the edification of souls. Each Sunday a choir comprising both professional staff singers and parish volunteers offers the Gregorian chants which are a necessary and integral part of the solemn liturgy.

In addition, worship is enhanced by the addition of other great music, in the form of choral Mass settings, motets, and organ voluntaries. The major feasts of the Church year are marked with special musical efforts. On certain days, more elaborate Mass settings are sung with the participation of professional orchestral musicians. Recent offerings have included Mozart’s Mass in G major and Sparrow Mass in C major; Charpentier’s Messe pour le samedi de Pâques and Messe pour le Port-Royal; Palestrina’s Missa Æterna Christi munera; Victoria’s four-voice Missa pro Defunctis; and parts of François Cosset’s Missa Eructavit cor meum, a long-neglected masterpiece in the process of being rediscovered.

Choirs of boys and girls are trained to sing and to read music and Latin, not only to give glory to God by the beauty of their young voices, but also to assure that the supply of qualified singers continues into the future.

Vespers are sung by a small group on Sunday afternoons, about once a month (everyone is warmly encouraged to join us!); the Choir joins in this on Gaudete and Lætare Sundays.

Each November, we offer an Evening of Organ Music in Honour of Saint Cecilia.

Choirs

The Parish Choir is open to qualified men and women. Parish Choir rehearsals are held on Thursday evenings from September through June, and the Choir sings every Sunday at the 9:15 a.m. Latin Mass, as well as for major feast days throughout the year. The core of volunteers is supplemented by four to six staff singers, who provide the music for the 11:00 a.m. Mass on Sundays and for the 5:30 p.m. Masses on Saturday and Sunday. Membership in the Parish Choir is by audition. A good singer is always heartily welcome, but the best times to join are at the beginning of September, at the beginning of January, and just after Easter.

Saint Gregory’s Choir for Boys (ages 8 to 12) and Saint Cecilia’s Choir for Girls (ages 8 to 17) rehearse weekly from October to May. Each group sings at Mass approximately once per month. Parents are encouraged to participate in the program through Safe Environment training and by assisting in during rehearsals and Masses.

To schedule an audition for the Parish Choir, or to enroll your child(ren) in the Boys’ or Girls’ Choirs, please contact the Organist and Choirmaster.

Organist and Choirmaster

B. Andrew Mills has been Organist and Choirmaster here at Saint Patrick’s since 2010. Before coming to New Orleans, he served at Saint Peter’s Church on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., and at the Church of Saint Agnes in New York City. He earned his bachelor’s degree in music from the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he studied organ with John Mueller; and his master’s degree from the Catholic University of America in Washington, where he studied organ with Peter Marshall and Gregorian chant with Theodore Marier.

Andrew has played organ recitals at the Basilica of the National Shrine in Washington, St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue in New York City, the Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul in Charleston (as part of the Piccolo Spoleto festival), the Basilique-Cathédrale de Notre Dame in Québec City, and the Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville. Beyond the organ, his work focuses on Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony. His book Psallite Sapienter: A Musician’s Practical Guide to the 1962 Roman Missal, was recommended to Catholic musicians by the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. In 2017 he was awarded the Order of Saint Louis IX for service to the Church in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. An English Mass setting and several Latin motets have been published by Cantica Nova Publications.

Organ

Patrick J. Murphy and Associates, organbuilders, Opus 53, 2009

This organ was graciously donated to the people of St. Patrick’s Church for the honour and glory of God, as a gift of Betty S. Noe and her children, in memory of their late husband and father, James A. Noe.

Further information, including a photograph and the stoplist, can be found here.