Recital of Fr. Michael Magiera, F.S.S.P.

Oct. 24, 2009

The Patrons of Sacred Music hosted their opening Fall Benefit Dinner with a concert by operatic tenor, Fr. Michael Magiera, F.S.S.P., Associate Pastor of Holy Rosary Parish in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The program of sacred and secular music was presented in the parish hall. Before the dinner the Patrons of Sacred Music enjoyed a lovely dinner in the rectory with the priests of St. John Cantius.

Msgr. Joseph Schaedel, Vicar General and Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis and a Patron of Sacred Music at St. John Cantius was our special guest. Fr. Frank Phillips, C.R., Pastor of St. John Cantius, originated the Patrons of Sacred Music to help support the restoration of sacred music at our parish.

Concert Program




Sacred Music

Comfort Ye
From Messiah
Georg Friederich Händel (1685-1759)

Every Valley
From Messiah
Georg Friederich Händel (1685-1759)

He That Dwelleth in Heaven and Thou Shalt Break Them
From Messiah
Georg Friederich Händel (1685-1759)

Benedictus
From Mass in B minor (BWV 232)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Deposuit
From Magnificat (BWV 243)
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

And God Created Man; In Native Worth
From The Creation
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809).

Ave Maria
Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828)

Ave Maria
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) and Charles-François Gounod (1818-1893)

Agnus Dei
Georges Bizet (1838-1875)

Secular Music

Quest’o Quella
From Rigoletto
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (1813-1901)

La Donna e mobile
From Rigoletto
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (1813-1901)

Be My Love
Nicholas Brodszky (1905-1958)

My Funny Valentine
Richard Rodgers (1902 – 1979) and Lorenz Hart (1895 – 1943)

Maria
From West Side Story
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)

Bring Him Home
From Les Miserables
Claude-Michel Schönberg (born 1944)

Father Michael Magiera, F.S.S.P.
Tenor

Father Michael Magiera, Tenor, in his 33rd year as a professional musician, began his career with Michael Korn and The Philadelphia Singers in 1976.  He has been a featured soloist with the Philadelphia Singers, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Opera Company of Philadelphia, The Boston Opera, The Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, The Pennsylvania Pro Musica, The Pennsylvania Opera Theater, The Baltimore Symphony, The Delaware Symphony, The Lincoln Symphony, The San Diego Opera, The Chautauqua Opera, The Pennsylvania Pro Musica and the Lansdowne Symphony.

A native Philadelphian and a graduate of Millersville University and Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts, Reverend Magiera was a European finalist in the International Luciano Pavarotti Competition.  He has performed many leading operatic and operetta roles throughout Germany and Switzerland.  His leading-role repertoire includes Rigoletto, La Traviata, Acis and Galatea, Julius Caesar, Count Ory, Madama Butterfly, Pelléas et Mélisande, The Barber of Seville, La Cenerentola, Albert Herring, The Abduction from the Seraglio, Die Zauberflöte, Così fan Tutte, Il Tabarro, Gianni Schicchi, Boulevard Solitude, Der Waffenschmied, Die Fledermaus, La Fille du Régiment, La Belle Hélène, Der Wildschutz, Fra Diavolo, Der Bettelstudent, Der Vetter aus Dingsda, Maske in Blau, Der Opernball, Eine Nacht in Venedig, and many other works.

Father Magiera is equally at home on the concert stage.  His solo performances include Händel’s Messiah, Bach’s Mass in b minor, Händel’s Wedding Anthem for the Prince of Wales, Bach’s St. Matthew and St. John Passion Evangelist, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Britten’s Les Illuminations, Orff’s Carmina Burana and Der Mond, Haydn’s The Creation, Stainer’s The Crucifixion, the Stabat Mater of Rossini and Haydn, and the Berlioz Requiem.

In 1998, he entered Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary, the house of study and formation for The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, aspiring to the Roman Catholic priesthood, a vocation dream he has had from the age of seven.  Deo Gratias, he was ordained to the sacred priesthood 21 May 2005 in Omaha’s St. Cecilia Cathedral.  He is presently serving as Associate Pastor at Our Lady Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Thomas Edward Zeman
Piano Accompanist

Thomas Edward Zeman studied piano and music theory with Mildred Adaska and Ada Gregor.  Afterwards he studied violin with George Metskas.  At the Sherwood School of Music he studied piano under Leo Podolsky.  While completing his high school studies he began coursework in music at Morton Junior College.  At DePaul University he studied piano with Thaddeus Kozack, villing with David Moll, chamber music, orchestra and orchestral conducting with Paul Stassevitch, and composition with Donald Jenni and John Downey.  He obtained the Bachelor of Music degree at DePaul with a major in composition and a minor in piano.  At Indiana University in Bloomington he studied piano with Frederick Baldwin, and composition with Bernhard Heiden and Juan Orrego-Salas.  He has studied organ with Arthur C. Becker, Sr. and Herdon Spillman.  He holds the Master of Music degree from Indiana University with a major in composition and a minor in piano.  He, furthermore, completed the coursework toward the Doctorate of Music degree with a major in composition and with minors in piano and theory.  He has studied semiology and chironomy at the Gregorian Chant Institute at St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Indiana.  He performs in concerts and recitals as soloist and chamber musician.

He is vice president of the Chicago Camerata, and organization of several chamber music groups.  As a member of the Chicago Camerata Trio he has performed on “Live from WFMT.” He has also performed on the Chicago Symphony Chamber Music Series.  With the Betty Haag Academy of Music, he plays piano for student and guest violin soloists and for the violin ensemble, for local concerts and on tour.  At St. John Cantius Church he frequently plays organ as soloist and accompanist with the Sine Nomine Ensemble and the Resurrection Choir and Orchestra.

In order to expand both classicism and romanticism, he has developed a highly ordered system of composition, employing a large number of pitches related through the ratios of integers.  He has composed solo works, orchestral works, choral works and chamber works.  He believes music, whether it be for concert or for worship, should have a positive influence on the listener.  His specific purpose in life is to compose music that will help people better to appreciate true peace, joy and the glory of God.

Br. Jonathan Ryan, SJC
Piano Accompanist

On September 25, Br. Jonathan Ryan, SJC won First Prize and the LeTourneau Prize in the Jordan II International Organ Competition in Columbus, GA. Sponsored by The Jordan Foundation, the First Prize includes a cash award of US$30,000.00, the largest monetary prize of any organ competition in the world, and concert management with the prestigious Karen McFarlane Artists in North America and OrganPromotion in Europe. The LeTourneau Prize, given for the best performance of newly commissioned work for organ & percussion ensemble required of all finalists, brings a cash prize of US$5,000.00. Founded in 2001, the Jordan International Organ Competition is one of the premiere international organ competitions in the world.

Both the semi-final and final rounds took place on the 3-manual, mechanical-action organ built as Op. 60 by the Canadian firm of Orgues Létourneau in Legacy Hall of Columbus State University’s RiverCenter. Fourteen semi-finalists were chosen from a preliminary recorded round. Included among the semi-finalists were contestants from Canada, France, Finland, Italy, New Zealand, Korea, and the United States.

Among the demanding repertoire required for this competition’s semi-final round, held on September 22-23, were the Chorale-Preludes on Vater Unser, BWV 682 and Allein Gott, BWV 676 by J.S. Bach, the Etude coulée by György Ligeti, two movements from the Seven Pastels on the Lake of Constance, Op. 96 by Sigfrid Karg-Elert from which Br. Jonathan chose The Soul of the Lake and The Legend of the Mountain, the Toccata IX from Girolamo Frescobaldi’s First Book of Toccatas, and one of the two major multi-movement organ works by Maurice Duruflé of which Br. Jonathan performed the Prelude, Adagio, and Chorale Variations on Veni Creator, Op. 4.

For the final round’s 60-minute program of selections by the contestant’s choosing, Br. Jonathan played the Outbursts of joy from a soul before the Glory of Christ from The Ascension by Olivier Messiaen, the Récit de tierce en taille from the Organ Book by Nicolas de Grigny, the Trio Sonata No. 4 in E Minor, BWV 528 by J.S. Bach, the required new work for organ and percussion ensemble entitled Soundscape by Columbus State University Professor and Composer Robert Rumbelow, the Pastorale and Toccata by David Conte, and the Chorale-Fantasy on Hallelujah! Gott zu loben, Op. 52, No. 3 by Max Reger.

The jury comprised of British concert organist Dame Gillian Weir as the President of the Jury, Yale University Organ Professor Martin Jean, Jon Laukvik of the Stuttgart State School of Music and Oslo University of Music, Parisian organist, musicologist and Sorbonne Professor Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet Hakim, and Tong-Soon Kwak, Professor of Organ at the Yonsei University in Seoul. Stefan Engels, Professor of Organ at the University of Music and Theatre “Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy” in Leipzig, served as Artistic Director

Second Prize was awarded to Soo-young Choi, a student at the Yonsei University in Seoul, and Third Prize to Shin-Young Lee, a student at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique in Paris.

A native of Charlotte, NC, Br. Jonathan has played the organ since age eight, and holds music degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music (BM, 2004 with academic honors) and the Eastman School of Music (MM, 2006). He has concertized as a solo organist throughout the Eastern and Midwestern United States and France. Prior to the Jordan Competition Prizes, he received First Prize awards in numerous other national organ competitions, including the Arthur Poister (2006), John Rodland (2006), Albert Schweitzer (2004), and Augustana Arts-Reuter (2003) competitions. He has served as Principal Organist at St. John Cantius Church in Chicago, IL since 2006 when he also entered the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius.

For more information about sponsoring musical events at St. John Cantius contact:

Fr. Scott A. Haynes, S.J.C.
Patrons of Sacred Music
825 N. Carpenter St.
Chicago IL 60642

(312) 243-7373 x 111