Singing for a concert at the Oratory of Sts. Gregory and Augustine in St. Louis this past Spring.
Greetings, friends of Floriani!
It’s been just over a year since we left our jobs and began working full-time on our mission to revitalize sacred music in America. With your support, we’ve been able to share this beautiful tradition with nearly 30 churches and schools in the diocese of Phoenix, and several others around the country. Our Chant School podcast now has 57 episodes with over 25,000 downloads. We’ve collaborated with the Amen app and Catholic Answers, and received national recognition from Catholic Vote, Adoremus Bulletin, the National Catholic Register, and Aleteia. The fact is, none of this would have been possible without you, and whether your support has been in prayers or finances or connections, we are inexpressibly grateful to be joined by so many who see the vital need for this work! May God bless you, and we will continue to keep you in our prayers.
There is plenty to look forward to as well, with our Fall and Christmas season packed with concerts, workshops, and other engagements. At the end of this month we will be performing a concert at the 2022 Catholic Answers Conference in San Diego, so be sure to catch us there. If you’re not yet attending, you should be! Tickets can be purchased here. In addition, we will be doing a tour in Georgia at the end of October, and in December we will head up to the Twin Cities in Minnesota. Also, we will have another series of Advent concerts throughout Phoenix, so stay tuned in to the Events page on our website for more information on all of these exciting opportunities!
Thomas Aquinas College
features Floriani in Latest Article
It is an honor to receive recognition from our beloved Alma Mater. Check out the whole article here.
At the end of the ages is a song
“All of creation is a cosmic sacrament of our saving God. … For the Christian everything, including the morning and evening, the day and the night, the sun and its setting, can be a means of communication with God.”
Check out this wonderful article from the magazine Plough, in which Joel Clarkson explores the meaning of singing in the Liturgy to the early Christians. To sing in joyful praise even in the midst of tragedy, war, and the seemingly hopeless state of fallen man is a characteristically Christian activity. When God the Son entered into His creation, He redeemed all of nature and sacramentalized it, revealing the true context of reality in terms of salvation. Mankind participates in this, and even as the stones cry out, the Christian is called to vocalize his own acknowledgment of His Savior, ever ready for His return. Clarkson’s point is so relevant to us today, and we should bring this recognition to the forefront of the mind constantly—especially now, as our smartphones plague our every waking hour with news and more news, specifically designed to provoke us in one way or another. He says,
“To sing as a Christian isn’t to deny or avoid the fallen realities of the world in some sort of escapism; rather, it is to enter into the midst of them, and to declare that though the darkness may seem strong, a light shines in the darkness which the darkness cannot comprehend (John 1:5), and which, in the fullness of time, will banish the darkness for good. In song, the signs of Christ’s coming continue to shine brightly for those who have eyes to see, ears to hear, and lungs to sing.”
A profound truth, and a compelling case for the ontological significance of our work! Read the whole article here.
Catholic Sacred Music Project
In June, Thomas and Joe attended the Catholic Sacred Music Project, which runs in conjunction with the Sacra Liturgia Conference in San Francisco. Over the course of a week, they got to connect with music directors from around the country and learn from some of the most talented and experienced musicians in the world, including Martin Baker (the former Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral) and Benjamin LaPrairie (Associate Director and Organist at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C.). At the end of the week, they sang alongside the other attendees for a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Cordileone, and performed a concert of sacred music by contemporary composers. See the video below to get a taste of the beautiful music being created by living composers!
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