Sunday Afternoon Recital
Join us on Sunday, October 8, 2023 as we welcome Benton Schmidt, church musician and scholar who has given organ recitals around the Midwest and abroad in Cosenza, Italy. He will present an organ recital at 3:15pm on the Cathedral Great Organ. If you can't be with us in-person for this exciting concert, join via the livestream on our YouTube channel.
Program
Olivier Messiaen (1908 - 1992):
Messe de la Pentecôte (1951)
I. Entrée
II. Offertoire (Les choses visibles et invisibles) 11’
Louis Vierne (1870 - 1937):
Messe Basse, Op. 30
IV. Élévation 3’
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750):
Jesus Christus, unser Heiland BWV 665 4’
Jesus Christus, unser Heiland BWV 666 3.5’
Olivier Latry (1962 - ):
Salve Regina 23’
Meet the Artist
Benton Schmidt is a multi-faceted church musician and scholar currently serving as director of music at St. Paul's Newman Center in his hometown of Fargo, North Dakota. He completed his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at North Dakota State University, where he was heavily involved in opera productions, chamber music, and art song festivals. His enthusiasm for choral singing and church music came from participating in NDSU's choral program, highlighted by yearly performances of Handel’s Messiah each Christmas.
Benton’s passion for church music grew as he started organ concurrently with his undergraduate studies, and this has become his career focus. He earned his Masters of Sacred Music at the University of Notre Dame, where he became especially interested in early German organ repertoire by Heinrich Scheidemann and Matthias Weckmann.
Schmidt is in the process of finishing his doctoral degree in church music at the University of Kansas, where his focus includes both modern and French Baroque repertoire. His interests include the classical Solesmes method of Gregorian chant as taught by Dom André Mocquereau and the tradition of organ alternatim in the Latin liturgy. He has given organ recitals around the Midwest and abroad in Cosenza, Italy.
Contact
For more information, contact Tom Stehle, Pastoral Associate for Liturgy and Director of Music Ministries.
Read about our Lively-Fulcher Organ.