Orvieto Musica Festival

My professional training is in philosophy, theology, and the humanities–music composition has always run parallel to these disciplines as something more of an exceptionally rewarding hobby. Since my first performance nearly a decade ago, I told myself that I would see where it takes me, but I would not hold my breath hoping to make a career out of it. During the Fall break of 2025 I started planning what I might do with my summers while in the Master of Divinity program at Notre Dame. Between midterm papers I caught myself researching music festivals overseas. The search results were thin for festivals that offered to premiere new works by living composers, but I applied to each festival with my best recordings and scores and prayed for at least one positive response.

Within a few weeks, I heard back from my top choice, Orvieto Musica, a chamber music festival hosted in the medieval town of Orvieto, Italy (about halfway between Florence and Rome). Given the location’s rich religious history, the director, Kim Walker, seemed keen on expanding the scope of the festival to include sacred choral music. By December, I accepted the position as composer-in-residence and began work on my new repertoire in early 2026. I took the opportunity to enroll in a composition studio with Dr. John Liberatore at Notre Dame in the semester leading up to the music festival. My goal was to compose a large-scale motet in honor of the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi, in addition to several smaller pieces.

I landed in Rome about five weeks ahead of the music festival with a handful of drafts and the intention to finalize them into performance scores. Through the Italian Studies Department, I was able to visit Notre Dame Rome and access the archives at La Pontificia Università Antonianum. It was there that I consulted rare manuscripts and translations of letters from St. Francis and St. Claire of Assisi. I selected bits of text from various letters and stitched together what would become the libretto for my flagship composition, a motet for eight voices and organ, entitled Francesco e Chiara. Over the course of the next several weeks, I traveled to Assisi, Venice, Milan, and Florence, finishing my scores and making adjustments as requested by the festival leadership. During this time of travel, I was inspired by the unique musical character of each location.

Assisi taught me about the harmony between music and nature; the atmosphere was so peaceful, it was as though I was a simple friar like Francis, hearing the voice of God in birdsong, church bells, the wind as it blew through town, and the melodic voices of the locals as I strolled the medieval streets. In Venice, I was able to attend a concert of Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons) in the selfsame church where Vivaldi practiced as a priest. The entire city was a vibrant flash of color and sound; it was the perfect inspiration for me to follow in Vivaldi’s footsteps and finish my string quartet for the festival, Variations and Fugue on La Folia. Florence will always hold a special place in my heart. One of my favorite sounds in the whole world is the solemn chant heard in La Badia Fironetina, a monastery near the Piazza Vecchia inhabited by the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem. Their homophonic chant directly inspired the section of Francesco e Chiara when the female voices sing the erotic poetry of St. Claire a capella. Milan felt less touristy and more industrial, and with only a week before the festival began I did most of my edits and administrative work while holed up in my apartment. When I did go out, I traveled to the alps to hike and clear my head. 

The festival proper was three weeks long and took place in the scenic hilltop town of Orvieto. The first week began with a somber concert in memory of the passing of a former administrator. I had the honor and the privilege of having my choral anthem, I Am With You Always, performed by a chamber ensemble with Soprano and Baritone vocalists. I originally composed the piece for SATB choir, organ, and brass quintet, having written it a year prior for the passing of my dear grandmother. Something about composing for a festival like Orvieto Musica is that one has to be flexible and rearrange music on the fly. In this instance, I rewrote my composition overnight in order to accommodate an ensemble of two vocalists, a piano, two violins, a cello, three trumpets, and a bassoon. Later on in the week, I sang as a bass in the premiere of a fantastic new Mass, Missa in Honorem Sancti Francisci, by the Umbrian composer, Giuseppe Bruni.

The second week of the festival delved much further into my role as a composer. Orvieto Musica boasts a world-class teaching faculty which includes the prominent American composer, Sean Shepherd. I was extraordinarily privileged to study under Sean’s mentorship; each day we met for a meal as a team with the other composition student, a talented musician from Colorado named Glenda Luck. Then later in the day we would have private coaching sessions with Sean, the contents of which would vary from navigating relationships with conductors, negotiating rehearsals of new compositions, and examining the realities of publishing and copyrighting, for example. This tutelage culminated in a masterclass with live performances of my music: the string quartet, Variations and Fugue on La Folia, a vocal trio, Salutatio ad Dominum Iesum Christum, and a vocal quartet, Hymn to Saint Raphael. Concerning my a capella compositions, the vocal trio was my most recent piece and the quartet was one of my oldest pieces, so it was interesting to analyze both snapshots of my writing.

Something I was not conscious of until the masterclass was that I had always performed in my compositions as a vocalist. Seeing that my training was in choral singing–and my music mostly suited this genre–I never really gave myself the opportunity to stand back and evaluate a performance in real time. Because of this, I have always relied heavily on feedback from conductors. But in chamber music there is seldom a conductor on which to rely. So when Sean asked me during the masterclass for notes or insights, I’m afraid I did not have much to contribute at first. This unlocked a new insecurity; namely that I did not know what I wanted out of a performance of my own music. However, with time and dedication to my scores, I was able to listen and communicate how to better achieve what I heard in my head when composing.

In the final week of Orvieto Musica, preparations were under way to premiere Francesco e Chiara. Although I wrote the large motet specifically for the organ in Il Duomo, Orvieto’s cathedral, it was unclear whether or not we would be able to use the venue for the festival. Regardless, the piece was set to be performed during the grand finale in Teatro Mancinelli, where there was only a piano. A few days before the finale, Kim approached me about possibly orchestrating the organ accompaniment for a string ensemble. I was a little surprised because it was frankly a monumental task to take on in the small window of time before the premiere, but I promised our fearless leader I would see what I could do. So I began work on separating each voice and adapting them for each string section, somehow managing to produce the scores in time for rehearsal. The string players received their music at 4:00 p.m. and we premiered the new orchestral arrangement with voices at 7:00 p.m. for the final concert. Oddly enough, we were still able to perform in Il Duomo with the organ as intended; I am so grateful for not only one, but two unique premieres of the same composition.

My advice to anyone who finds themself presented with a similar opportunity is to put yourself out there and hold nothing back! There were several moments where I felt overwhelmed, incompetent, or otherwise completely out of my comfort zone. It was only by working through these great challenges that I understood my strengths of creative problem solving and working well under pressure. So do not be afraid when there is trouble, it is merely an opportunity to find out what you are made of.

I would like to extend my most heartfelt gratitude to Orvieto Musica, the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, the Franco Family Institute, the Italian Studies Department, Mr. Mark Evans, Dr. Mary Soha, Kim Walker, Sean Shepherd, and everyone who supported my research and residency.

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