Leading the Renewal of Sacred Music
The Team
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FOUNDER
Peter Carter
Peter Carter is co-author with Cardinal Sarah of The Song of the Lamb: Sacred Music and the Heavenly Liturgy. He is the founder and director of the Catholic Sacred Music Project, which is devoted to forming emerging leaders for the renewal of sacred music. He also serves as the Director of Sacred Music for both the Aquinas Institute of Princeton University and St. John the Baptist Church in Allentown, New Jersey. At St. John the Baptist, he leads the parish chorister program and conducts a thirty voice semi-professional Schola Cantorum who sing for a weekly Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form.
He has sung and recorded with the Westminster Symphonic Choir, the Grammy® nominated Westminster Williamson Voices, The Same Stream, and The Lotus Project. He has performed as an organist in the United States and France and has played for televised liturgies on EWTN. As a clinician, he has led sacred music workshops throughout the United States and at the seminary of the Fraternity of St. Joseph the Guardian in the Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon, France.
From 2016-2023, he served as the Director of Sacred Music for the Pro Civitate Dei summer conferences hosted by the Fraternity of St. Joseph the Guardian in the United States, France, and Chile. From 2019-2020, he served as co-host of Square Notes: The Sacred Music Podcast, interviewing prominent Church figures and musicians including Robert Cardinal Sarah, Olivier Latry, and Sir James MacMillan. In 2020 and 2024, Mr. Carter directed the music for Sarum Vespers in Philadelphia and Princeton which were the first Catholic Sarum liturgies in the United States. In 2021, he founded The Catholic Sacred Music Project with an inaugural Choral Festival at the Cathedral-Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Philadelphia, and a Choral Festival in San Francisco in 2022. He continues his work with the Catholic Sacred Music Project with an annual Sacred Music Summer School in Princeton, NJ, forming musicians to serve the Church with the highest level of musical excellence.
Mr. Carter holds degrees from Westminster Choir College.
CONDUCTING FACULTY, FOUNDER
Timothy McDonnell, D.M.A.
Conductor, Timothy McDonnell is the Director of Sacred Music at Hillsdale College, where he leads the Chapel Choir and oversees the Choral Scholars program. Before coming to Hillsdale, Dr. McDonnell led the graduate program in Sacred Music at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C from 2016-2021, where he also served as the Director of Choral Studies. From 2008 to 2015, McDonnell was the Director of Choral Activities at Ave Maria University, in Naples, FL. While at Ave Maria, he was chairman of the music department for 8 years and taught music theory, counterpoint, orchestration, and conducting. Prior to Ave Maria University, Dr. McDonnell held an appointment at the Pontifical North American College in Vatican City as the master of the music chapel, where he oversaw some 20 sung liturgies per week.
Dr. McDonnell has worked with several professional ensembles, including as harpsichordist for the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, orchestra assistant at Opera Philadelphia, conductor of the Symphonic Chorus of the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, and founder of The Symphonic Chorale of Southwest Florida (now Choral Artistry). McDonnell has been guest conductor with the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra (MD), the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, and the Naples Philharmonic.
In 2013 McDonnell was a finalist for the American Prize in choral conducting for his performance of Mozart’s Requiem, and in 2014 he took third place in the American Prize for his performance of Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem. His 2019 performance of Mozart’s Vesperae Solennes de Confessore garnered 2nd place in the American Prize Choral Conducting Competition in 2020. Dr. McDonnell has collaborated as choirmaster with several leading conductors including Andrey Boreyko, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Cristian Macelaru, and Robert Page. In 2018 he collaborated with Gustavo Dudamel in a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at the Kennedy Center as part of an international tour of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Dr. McDonnell is active as a composer and arranger. His work has been performed by orchestras around the world, including the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, The Kennett Symphony, and the Chamber Orchestra of Flanders. McDonnell was a finalist for the 2014 American Prize in composition for his choral-orchestral work, Sub tuum praesidium. Again in 2019, McDonnell was a finalist for the American Prize for his choral-orchestral work, Spoon River Triptych.
Dr. McDonnell has served as conductor/faculty for the Church Music Association of America’s annual Colloquium. He has also been on the conducting faculty with the Catholic Sacred Music Project, where he collaborated with Sir James MacMillan in 2021 and Martin Baker in 2022.
ORGAN FACULTY
Benjamin LaPrairie
Benjamin LaPrairie serves as Associate Director of Music at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., where he is heard accompanying daily, Sunday, and many televised Masses throughout the year. Notable liturgies include the Canonization Mass of Saint Junípero Serra, celebrated by Pope Francis, and the Funeral Mass of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Previously, Benjamin served as Principal Organist at St. Dominic Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., and as Director of Music at St. Patrick Catholic Church in St. Charles, Illinois.
As a composer, Benjamin’s works have been performed by the Choir, Brass, and Orchestra of the Basilica, and have been recorded and broadcast worldwide on EWTN, Salt and Light Media, and CatholicTV. His setting of Christus Vincit was premiered upon the entrance of Pope Francis into the Great Upper Church of the National Shrine in September of 2015. Recent works include a setting of Ye Sons and Daughters for the Choir and Orchestra of the Basilica, and a setting of Joy to the World for the choirs and orchestra of The Catholic University of America. As an organist, Benjamin has performed throughout the United States and abroad, and has been featured as a soloist with the Pine Mountain Music Fesival and at the Kimball Organ of Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ. Recent collaborations include a performance of Louis Vierne’sMesse Solennelleat the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
A native of Michigan, Benjamin is a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater, and Dance, where he studied organ with Robert Glasgow. He received a Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he studied organ with John Walker, and was the recipient of the Bruce R. Eicher Prize in Organ. Additionally, Benjamin did postgraduate coursework in music composition and voice at The Catholic University of America.