AMERICAN SARUM FACULTYY
Dr John Harper
Dr John Harper has spent the last nine years investigating the Use of Salisbury, leading a major research project into the experience of late medieval worship, especially in Salisbury Cathedral. The collaborative fruits of the research project include the websites The Experience of Worship in late medieval Cathedral and Parish Church and Sarum Customary Online, the book Late Medieval Liturgies Enacted, and the St Teilo ‘Tudor’ organ; a volume of Mass in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Early English Church Music series) will be published in 2018. As a church musician he has always been keen to explore the fruits of the past in present liturgy, including his work as executive editor of the Office hymnal, Hymns for Prayer and Praise. He is also the author of the standard guide The Forms and Orders of Western Liturgy. He is emeritus director, the Royal School of Church Music, emeritus professor of music, Bangor University, and honorary professor of music at the University of Birmingham. He also leads the Sacred Music Studies Research Group. Earlier in his career he was director of music, St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham; director of the Edington Festival of Music in the Liturgy; and organist, Informator Choristarum, and tutor in music, Magdalen College, Oxford. He was awarded the Benemerenti medal by Pope Paul VI in 1978, and the degree of Doctor of Music by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2010.
The Rev. Rita Powell
The Rev. Rita Powell hails from New England but spent a number of years serving in the Diocese of South Dakota, as well as living for a time with the monastic community in Taizé, France. Her spirituality was deeply formed by choral singing in her youth, as well as by the physical disciplines of basketball, yoga, and running. She is a graduate of Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University and joined the staff of Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston in 2013 as Associate Rector for Trinity’s liturgical life as well as heading youth ministries and collaborating in outreach ministries. She left Trinity Church in 2019 and now serves as as Episcopal Chaplain at Harvard University. She lives in Belmont, Massachusetts with her husband Justin and their two children.
Dr. Jesse Billett
Jesse Billett earned his A.B. in Music (Harvard), M.Phil. in Medieval History (Cambridge), and Ph.D. in History (Cambridge). His areas of expertise include Medieval liturgy, the Divine Office, medieval monasticism, Christian chant and psalmody, and Anglican liturgy and piety. Dr. Billett joined the Faculty of Divinity at the University of Toronto as an Assistant Professor in 2012 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2018. Before his appoinment there, he was a post-doctoral fellow at St. John’s College, Cambridge, and at the Centre for Medieval Studies here in Toronto. His research has focused mainly on the history of the liturgy in the medieval West, but more recently he has also published on the Book of Common Prayer in Anglican history and spirituality. Formerly a choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, he is an experienced practitioner of sacred music, with a particular interest in Gregorian chant.
Dr. Katherine Kennedy Steiner
Katherine Kennedy Steiner combines her interests in music, ritual practice, and communal identity in her research on medieval music. Her undergraduate degree at Wheaton College introduced her to the intricate beauty of early music. During her M.A.R. work at Yale Divinity School she learned about the ritual contexts in which most early music was performed. She went on to Princeton University to write a dissertation on music and liturgy in medieval St Andrews, offering new insight into an important collection of medieval polyphony. More broadly, Steiner researches the role of music in shaping communal identity through ritual practice and narrative history. Her published work includes an article on music for a Scottish saint in Plainsong and Medieval Music, and an edited volume of meditations on Scriptural songs, Come, Let us Sing to the Lord. She has held postdoctoral fellowships as a teaching scholar at Valparaiso University and as a Mellon Fellow at the Pontifical Institute for Mediaeval Studies. She has taught courses on Hildegard of Bingen, film music, Western music history, and liturgy. Her interest in contemporary worship led her to design a liturgy called Speravi, incorporating contemporary music into an ancient liturgy. She has also led early music vocal ensembles at Princeton University and the University of Notre Dame.
At Conrad Grebel (University of Waterloo), Dr. Steiner is the Director of the Church Music & Worship program, as well as director of the Chapel Choir.
Cantor Seth Warner
Cantor Seth Warner, originally from Southern California, earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Redlands and his Master of Sacred Music degree from the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, School of Sacred Music in Jerusalem and New York. Receiving his Cantorial Investiture from the same institution, he earned several awards in vocal excellence. He has served two synagogues with distinction during his career. First he served the historic Touro Synagogue in New Orleans, weathering Hurricane Katrina and producing Touro’s Jazz Fest Shabbat to high acclaim. Working with musicians Ellis Marsalis and Jeremy Davenport, Cantor Warner collaborated to bridge jazz and the music of synagogue in a spiritually fulfilling way. He now proudly serves Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis. As an integral part of the clergy team, he oversees the Congregation’s music and worship agendas, leads the B’nei Mitzvah program in addition to his pastoral care and other congregational duties. He serves the community as a chaplain for first responders in the greater St. Louis metropolitan area and is a member of the Critical Incident Stress Management Team (CISM). He is an active member of the American Conference of Cantors, has served as an officer on its Executive Board.
The Revd Canon Christopher Chivers
Chris Chivers trained for ordination at Westcott House Theological College (Cambridge) reading Theology and Religious Studies as an affiliated student at Selwyn College and his ministry has seen him as a curate, parish priest and area dean in North London in the parish of Friern Barnet, at John Keble Church, Mill Hill, and across the West Barnet deanery. He has also served as Precentor of two very contrasting communities – St George's Cathedral, Cape Town and Westminster Abbey, and as Canon Chancellor of Blackburn Cathedral where he founded the award-winning inter-religious and educational institute, exChange. Most recently he returned to his alma mater and served as Principal of Westcott House Theological College. Before training for ordination he studied music as an academical clerk (choral scholar) at Magdalen College, Oxford, having earlier been a chorister at Bristol Cathedral, taught music at several schools and was Lay Chaplain, Housemaster and Choristers' Tutor at King's College School, Cambridge. A published composer of choral music, he is also the author of several books. He presents Daily Service and Act of Worship on BBC Radio 4, and is a frequent contributor to the church and secular press in the UK and internationally. He is a Canon Emeritus of Blackburn and was made an Honorary Canon of Saldhana Bay Diocese in recognition of his contributions to the church in Southern Africa. He is a trustee of the Anglican Communion Fund, a Montgomery Trust lecturer and the Chair of Trustees for the Anglican mission agency, USPG.
Dr. Robert Lehman
Dr. Robert Lehman, American conductor, organist, and composer, has served on the staff of several distinguished churches, including the Washington National Cathedral (of which he is a Fellow), the Princeton University Chapel, and Saint Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, New York City. For fourteen years he served as organist and choirmaster of historic Christ Church, New Haven, Connecticut where, under his leadership, the choir and music program gained an international reputation for excellence. During his tenure in New Haven he taught at the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale and was made a Fellow of Davenport College at Yale University. His discography includes works of J.S. Bach, French Classical Noëls for Christmas, music for organ and brass, and works of nineteenth and twentieth century composers. His compositions are published by several American publishers, are sung regularly in cathedrals, churches, and concert halls, and have been recorded by leading choirs around the globe. He joined the staff of The Church of St. Michael & St. George in St. Louis, Missouri as Organist and Choirmaster in January of 2008.
Dr Mark Ardrey-Graves
Dr. Mark Ardrey-Graves, a North Carolina native, received his early musical training on piano and violin, and by spending countless hours as a child listening to recordings and radio broadcasts of classical and sacred music. As an undergraduate at the University of Richmond he studied harpsichord, violin, voice, conducting, and organ. He earned the MA in Performance Practice & Musicology from Duke University, where he studied organ and harpsichord with Robert Parkins, voice with Penelope Jensen, fortepiano with Randall Love, and viola da gamba with Lex Silbiger. His Performance Practice studies focused on late medieval and seventeenth-century aesthetics, organology, tuning systems, and ornamentation. Dr. Ardrey-Graves pursued further study in theology, liturgics, Biblical studies, and Anglican studies at Duke University Divinity School, receiving the Master of Divinity degree in 2005, then completed the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting at James Madison University, with a focus on pedagogy, literature, and performance. His dissertation explores the Office of Compline during the season of Lent, as it was observed in non-monastic establishments in England during the late 15th and early 16th centuries, on the eve of the Reformation. His research interests also include the historical-liturgical contexts of sacred repertoire, the performance of chant, and the intersection of theology, aesthetics, and music.
The Rt. Rev. Keith Whitmore is the former Assisting Bishop of Atlanta and is the Chaplain of the Association of Anglican Musicians. Formerly the Fifth Bishop of Eau Claire from 1999-2008, he also served as Dean of the Cathedral in Western Kansas. He is a graduate of Nashotah House Seminary and has conducted workshops on evangelism, parish development, vision and goal setting, and leadership development throughout the country. In addition to his Episcopal duties in Atlanta, he served at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University as Distinguished Professor of Anglican Studies.
The Rt. Rev. Keith Whitmore
The Revd Canon James Mustard
James Mustard was installed as Canon Precentor of historic Exeter Cathedral in March 2018. Following a career as a freelance musician, he studied Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Cambridge and trained for ordination at Westcott House, Cambridge. After participating in an exchange programme at Yale Divinity School, he was ordained in 2005 and served his title at the Church of St Peter Mancroft, Norwich. From 2008, he was Assistant Priest at St Peter’s Church, Eaton Square in London, before becoming Rector of East Barnet in North London in 2012 and Area Dean of Barnet in 2015. He has a degree in Music from the University of Exeter and a degree in Systematic Theology from King’s College London.
The Revd Canon Jeremy Davies
The Rev’d Canon Jeremy Davies was Residentiary Canon and Precentor of Salisbury Cathedral from 1985 to 2012, where he was responsible for the cathedral’s liturgy and music. He completed degrees in English and Theology at Cambridge and was ordained in 1971 and after a curacy in Stepney he was a university chaplain for eleven years, first at Queen Mary College in London, and then as Senior Anglican Chaplain at Cardiff University, and the Polytechnic of Wales. He was a member of the General Synod of the Church of England and for the last ten years has been a member of the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England. He was a finalist in the first Times Preacher of the Year competition (1995) and continues to preach in this country and abroad as well as leading quiet days, retreats and conferences. Having been a cathedral chorister at Llandaff and a Cambridge choral scholar he continues to sing in choirs, and through his ministry as a liturgical consultant advises churches and congregations in UK (and abroad) on liturgical and musical principles and performance. He lectures extensively in UK and USA on the medieval Sarum Use. In 1973 he directed and wrote the script for The Way of the Cross which has since been performed in many parts of England and Wales, including a performance in Cardiff in 1983. At present, Canon Davies serves as Chaplain at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University.
The Rev. Erika Takacs
The Rev. Erika Takacs has recently been named as Rector of Church of the Atonement in Chicago. She joined the staff of Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in Philadelphia as Associate Rector in July 2011. Prior to her appointment at Saint Mark’s, she served at Christ Church in Alexandria, Va., first as a clergy resident in the Foundations for Spiritual Leadership program and then as the Associate Rector for Faith Formation and Evangelism. She is a graduate of the Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Va. Also a musician by training, before attending seminary, she was a high school and middle school choir director in New Hope, Pennsylvania. She has also enjoyed a career as a professional singer. She holds degrees from West Chester University of Pennsylvania and Westminster Choir College. Mother Takacs is the current chair of the Commission on Ministry in the Diocese of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Association of Anglican Musicians and a founding member of the Society of Catholic Priests in North America, an organization for which she has served as the Provincial Convener. Outside of her work, her two great loves are reading and baseball.
Dr. Henry Parkes
Henry Parkes is interested in the music and liturgy of the medieval Latin church, above all in Germany ca. 800–1200. After graduating with a first-class degree in music from the University of Oxford, he earned a Ph.D. in musicology at the University of Cambridge, where he was subsequently appointed as a postdoctoral research fellow at Gonville and Caius College. Prior to his current appointment at Yale University in 2014, he also served as a visiting lecturer at the University of Cambridge and at Royal Holloway, University of London. In both his teaching and his research, Dr. Parkes specializes in the various interactions between European sacred music, the means and experience of its performance, and its written remains. His first book, The Making of Liturgy in the Ottonian Church (Cambridge, 2015), considered the historical testimony of early medieval liturgical books, not only as the means of uncovering Christian ritual practices of the past, but also as the embodiments of changing ideas about religious ritual and its organization. Central to this study was a revisionist account of the celebrated but long misunderstood Romano-German Pontifical, an extraordinary encyclopedia of liturgical wisdom produced in Germany ca. 1000. His current research project explores the notion of auctoritas in Western European liturgy at the turn of the first millennium, with a particular focus on the developing concept of ‘Gregorian’ chant. Supported by a Humboldt Fellowship in 2017/18, jointly held at the Monumenta Germaniae Historica in Munich and the Institut für Musikforschung at the University of Würzburg, he is currently assembling an editio princeps of the collected liturgical commentaries of Bern of Reichenau, a famous early eleventh-century intellectual who was himself deeply invested in these issues. Aside from academia, Parkes holds an FRCO diploma in organ, and has held organist positions at a number of the UK’s leading Anglican choral foundations. Until his move to Yale he regularly shared the concert platform with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
The Revd Canon Dr Jamie Hawkey
The Rev. Dr. Jamie Hawkey is Canon Theologian of the Abbey Church of St. Peter in Westminster (Westminster Abbey). He is a priest of the Church of England, studied at Girton and Selwyn Colleges and Westcott House in Cambridge, and at the Angelicum University in Rome. Prior to Clare College he was Precentor of Westminster Abbey and a Minor Canon there from 2010. He served his curacy at St Mary's Portsea in inner-city Portsmouth. His research interests focus around ecclesiology and ecumenical theology, and in addition to his work at Clare he is an assistant Director of Ordinands for the Diocese of Ely, serves on the International Anglican-Reformed Dialogue, as a member of the Malines Conversions Group, and chairs the UK Appeal Committee of the Anglican Centre in Rome.