An Oxbridge Summer and a Book Launch Fall
Dear Friends and Followers of the Catholic Sacred Music Project,
It has been a long time since you’ve last heard from me, and much has happened in the Church and the world, including the passing of Pope Francis and the election of Pope Leo XIV. Throughout it all, the mission of the Catholic Sacred Music Project remains just as relevant and urgent today. This summer, the Catholic Sacred Music Project was a proud cosponsor of the conference Thomism, Creativity and the Arts: Jacques and Raïssa Maritain, held on July 1 at Blackfriars, Oxford. For this conference I flew over to London, took the bus to Oxford, and then conducted many talented musicians for the offices of Midday Prayer, Vespers, and for the Mass which were all an integral part of the conference program. As I have often discussed with Margarita Mooney-Clayton, director of our frequent collaborator, the Scala Foundation, having liturgical music, art, and prayer as part of an academic conference helps to ground the intellectual pursuits of conferences within the fully human and religious dimensions of the human person. Unfortunately, this opportunity to aid in the formation of the entire person is frequently overlooked at many academic conferences, and it is something that we are both passionate about addressing in the programs that Scala and the Catholic Sacred Music Project offers.
Continuing in the CSMP’s tradition of highlighting the living tradition of sacred music with composers new and old, we sang music by three living composers who were all present: Mitte Manum Tuam and Benedicimus Deum Caeli by Sir James MacMillan; Kyrie from Missa Maris by the Prior of Blackfriars, Fr. Dominic White, O.P.; and harmonizations of the Roman Missal Chants written by me. Alongside the new, we sang a Magnificat by Palestrina (particularly to underline his 500th year anniversary), Praise to the Holiest by the new Doctor of the Church, St. John Henry Newman; and plainchant in both Latin and English.
The YouTube link to the Vespers can be found here (audio only), and the YouTube link to the Mass can be found here (video and audio). I hope you’ll enjoy listening to the music that the Catholic Sacred Music Project was able to provide for this wonderful conference.
The choir, Sir James MacMillan, Margarita Mooney-Clayton, and me.
After Oxford, I took the train to Cambridge via London to attend a weeklong program called the Cambridge Choral Summer Course. This course was initially begun around 40 years ago by the composer, Sir John Rutter, and his wife, Joanne. While the course lasted for several years in the 80s, it was recently resurrected in the past several years through the efforts of J. Marty Cope, Director of Music at Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas. I was excited to attend and enter a week-long immersion into the Cambridge choral tradition, both by attending many Evensongs at Cambridge college chapels as well as singing Evensong at Ely Cathedral and Compline at Corpus Christi College. We had a number of seminars with renowned composers and choral conductors, including Sir John Rutter, Nigel Short of Tenebrae fame, Andrew Nethsingha from Westminster Abbey, Voces8, Barry Rose, and several more.
Voces8 gave us a small private concert as well as coached us in choral singing.
Nigel Short led us in the Compline service at Corpus Christi College Chapel. He had recently conducted the choir for the historic Catholic Mass celebrated in Canturbury Cathedral on July 7.
I was also blessed to reconnect with many friends, including Martin Baker, former Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral and conductor for the 2022 CSMP Choral Festival held in San Francisco. Some new friends included several young composers (who I hope will attend our next Composition Institute), Nigel Kerry, the director of music of Our Lady of the Assumption and the English Martyrs Catholic Church in Cambridge, and the charming and lazy Cambridge Cows!
A pleasant surprise on my morning walk through the Midsummer Common in Cambridge.
Coming away from both programs, I felt refreshed and invigorated, and inspired for next year’s CSMP summer courses in Princeton, continuing our tradition of providing the highest level of musical training in the Catholic tradition of sacred music. I have begun in earnest to plan our 2026 Sacred Music Summer School, and pending confirmation on a few details I will be announcing the programs within the next weeks.
But you don’t have to wait until June for our next event, as I am thrilled to share the title and date of publication of the book I am co-authoring with His Eminence, Robert Cardinal Sarah: The title will be The Song of the Lamb: Sacred Music and the Heavenly Liturgy, published by Ignatius Press, and the book launch date will be on November 22, 2025, the feast of St. Cecilia, and held in Princeton, New Jersey. And, more than that, Cardinal Sarah has agreed to come for the book launch, which will mark his first-ever book launch event in the United States! The book launch events are still currently being planned, but you can go ahead and mark your calendars to come to Princeton to meet His Eminence!
A breathtaking sight during one of my morning walks in the park near my home.
In this time near the end of the summer, I am resting in the quietness, and am planning for the wonderful year ahead. I have particularly been enjoying taking morning walks at the park near my house, and having more time for prayer, reading, and reflection. I feel very blessed from this summer, and cherish the support and encouragement of friends new and old. Know of my prayers for you all. Please continue to pray for our work, all in service to the renewal of the liturgy and music of the Church. I am hopeful now more than ever for this renewal, and I believe that God has a special role for the Catholic Sacred Music Project in making this vision a reality.
May God bless you all, and may you have a wonderful rest of the summer!
Peter Carter
Director of the Catholic Sacred Music Project