A few months ago I met with the delightful (and delightfully named) Rosemary Lane from Loyola Press, who was in Boston filming some of their authors. We met up at St Ignatius Church and I read a few of my blog posts, and then she asked if we could chat, on camera.
On the surface I was all “oh no! Little old me?” and just under the surface I was all “crap I didn’t prepare for this what if I come off sounding like a goon” and way below the surface, deep inside I was all “YES I LOVE WHEN PEOPLE LISTEN TO ME TALK”.
I wasn’t sure what would ever come of that video, so I tried to put it out of my mind and not panic about sounding like a goon. Happily, I found out recently that it would be featured as part of the Arts and Faith series on LoyolaPress.com.
Major kudos to Rosemary whose editing magic took out all the goon and kept the fun stuff. She’s a treasure! So head on over to LoyolaPress.com to read about The Opera Diva Who Sings in Church. And be sure to read the wonderful stories of the other featured artists too!
A lovely interview and appreciative of the intersection of music and liturgy and prayer. People like you assist in changing the face of Catholic music away from 3 chord guitar plucking souls to well trained musicians who see their work in the context of prayer. Deo gratias.
Thank you, Kevin. I feel fairly strongly that the element of “contending with talent” that I talk about in the final segment is one that needs to be addressed in order for our religious artistic expression overall to be enhanced.
So very, very nice !
My thanks, Frank! I hope you are well.
I’m happy you said “yes” to the interview! I enjoyed listening to you speak about your love of sacred music and liturgy. As an Orthodox Christian and a member of my church choir I understand the synergy of the two very well, and the privilege we are given to sing every Sunday. Thank you!
The Orthodox really get the aspects of liturgy that are so attractive to me. A professor once referred to me as an Anonymous Orthodox (a play on Rahner’s Anonymous Christian). Keep singing!
I appreciated hearing you speak.
Thank you as always for your encouragement and for listening!
Such a cool project – you’re the perfect person to talk about the work of your faith in your art and vice versa.
Sometimes I feel like my art reveals more of the face of God to me, but I don’t tend to use it as an expression of faith, at least not directly.
Thanks friend! I would love to read more about how your art is an expression of faith (even indirectly!). I think any expression of a faithful person is a way of expressing faith – that is, expressing what we believe about ourselves and other people through the lens of belief in God.
It might work better for me to refer to my art at this point as being a practice that reveals the divine to me, more than I am able to express my faith through that same art. This entry doesn’t mention my religious faith or God at all but it is entirely concerned with the transcendence I experience when engaged in the discipline of theatre. Working in the midst of a live show puts me in a state of mind and receptiveness that is quite like any other – perhaps being exhausted and at the mercy of natural elements has come close, and perhaps so has attending mass when in a particular emotional situation. (Yet that feels like mass is hitting all the same notes that a theatre performance does, and therefore makes it difficult to differentiate…)