Sacred Music in a Sacred Space
at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola
K. Scott Warren, Artistic Director

K. Scott Warren, Artistic Director

Nancianne Parrella, Associate Organist

Robert Reuter, Associate Director of Music

Michael Sheetz, Music Associate

Maureen Haley, Director of Children's Choirs and High School Choir

Sara Murphy, Executive Director
 

K. Scott Warren
Artistic Director
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Organist, pianist, conductor, and composer K. Scott Warren joined the music staff in 2011. No stranger to the parish and staff of St. Ignatius, Scott was Associate Musician (part-time) from 2001 to 2007. His experience as a liturgical musician includes serving as Music Director or Interim Director at several Manhattan churches, including Immanuel Lutheran Church, Park Avenue United Methodist Church, and Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. In addition to his work at St. Ignatius, Scott currently serves as Organist/Choirmaster at Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York, the largest Jewish house of worship in the world, where he plays the 4-manual, 135-rank Glück pipe organ and directs the 17-voice professional choir in over 120 choral liturgies annually.

Scott’s active career as a collaborative musician has led him to perform as organist and pianist with the New York Philharmonic, the American Symphony Orchestra, the New York Pops, the Orchestra of St. Lukes, the Dresden Philharmonic, and such notable choral ensembles as Musica Sacra, the Oratorio Society of New York, and Voices of Ascension. His work as an accompanist has been featured on local radio station WQXR, and on NPR and PBS.

A long-time love of choral music has recently led Scott to compose for the medium.  Several of his pieces are published by Oxford University Press, and have been performed in New York City churches and in liturgies and concerts throughout North America, Europe, and Japan.

Scott’s musical interests are not limited to classical music.  While growing up in Dallas, Texas, he played in a variety of local bands, including a five-year stint with the Al “TNT” Braggs Show Band, a popular Dallas-based rhythm and blues revue.

Scott is a graduate of the University of North Texas, where he studied organ with Jesse Eschbach and piano with Mary Nan Mailman.

Nancianne Parrella
Associate Organist
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Nancianne Parrella is Associate Organist of the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York City and is active in its extensive music program directed by K. Scott Warren. She plays a prominent part in the acclaimed concert series Sacred Music in a Sacred Space as organ soloist, continuo player, and accompanist for choral and orchestral works. During the recent season in New York, she played concerts with Voices of Ascension directed by Dennis Keen; at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine; and with Musica Sacra and Oratorio Society at Carnegie Hall with Kent Tritle conducting. Nancianne and K. Scott Warren are in demand as duo pianists for many of the leading choral ensembles in New York City.

Nancianne’s signature Organ Plus! recitals, regular audience favorites on the N.P. Mander Organ Recital Series, demonstrate the versatility of the organ in combination with Victoria Drake, harp; Jorge Avila, violin; and Arthur Fiacco, violoncello. She brought Organ Plus! to Knox Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati; The Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Newark, NJ; Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, NY; Cathedral of St.John the Divine, NY; All Saints Episcopal Church, Fort Worth, TX; and St. Agnes Cathedral Rockville Center, NY.

Nancianne was the founding director of Intermezzo, the chamber music series at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, SC. Her organ performances with orchestra have included: the Saint Saëns Symphony No. 3, “The Organ Symphony” with The Orchestra of St. Ignatius Loyola and Fort Worth Symphony; Stephen Paulus’ Concerto for Organ, Timpani, Percussion, and Strings at New York’s AGO Regional Convention; and the University of Massachusetts Amherst Symphony Orchestra, playing the Poulenc Concerto for Organ, Strings, and Timpani as well as the Paulus.

Other concerts include performances with the New York Philharmonic in Lorin Maazel’s farewell concerts of the Britten War Requiem later recorded with Kurt Masur conducting; recitals at the Methuen Memorial Music Hall Organ Recital Series; at Trinity Church, Wall Street NY; and at Princeton University Chapel, NJ.

Among America’s preeminent choral accompanists, Nancianne is an Emeritus Faculty member of Westminster Choir College of Rider University Princeton, where she was accompanist and assistant director of the famed Westminster Choir and Symphonic Choir directed by Joseph Flummerfelt. She toured and recorded extensively with Westminster Choir with performances in Europe, America, Taiwan and Korea.

Nancianne was long associated with America’s pioneering choral conductor, Robert Shaw, with whom she toured and recorded in America, France, and Brazil. She has collaborated with conductors: Kurt Masur, Charles Dutoit, Lorin Maazel of the NY Philharmonic; Wolfgang Sawallisch of the Philadelphia Orchestra; Zdenek Macal and Neeme Järvi of the NJ Symphony; and James Bagwell and Louis Langreé in New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival.

Her CD labels include MSR; Delos; Gothic; Dorian; Chesky; Telarc, and Teldec. She is featured on two Pheasant Eye DVDs, The Organistas and Creating the Stradivarius of Organs, revealing the development of the N. P. Mander Organ, one of the largest tracker-action organs in New York City.

Robert Reuter
Associate Director of Music
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Robert Reuter, conductor, singer, and pianist, was named Associate Director of Music in September of 2012 at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York City, where he works closely with director K. Scott Warren in contributing and shaping the church’s vibrant liturgical music program and concert series Sacred Music in a Sacred Space.  Since joining the music staff in 2007, Robert has worked with all of the church’s professional and volunteer ensembles.  

In the 2009-2010 season, he made his Sacred Music in a Sacred Space concert series debut, conducting the Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola, Parish Community Choir, High School Choir and St. Ignatius Brass Ensemble on Giovanni Gabrieli’s much beloved O Magnum Mysterium in the series’ annual Christmas Concerts.  The following 2010-2011 season, Robert conducted the New York Premiere of Cecilia McDowall’s Christus Natus Est at the Christmas Concerts, as well as an all a cappella concert with Kent Tritle.  The a cappella concert was recorded and commercially released in 2011 as Cool of the Day on the MSR label.

As a singer, Robert has sung with numerous choruses on both the west and east coasts, and currently sings with the all-professional Choir of St.
Ignatius Loyola.  Robert’s liturgical responsibilities include leading the music at the weekly Sunday evening 7:30 liturgies, directing and accompanying the Canticum Sacrum choir.  Additionally, he directs the music at many of the church’s major Christmas, Holy Week and Easter liturgies.  Along with his colleagues K. Scott Warren and Michael Sheetz, Robert co-directs the church’s 50-member Parish Community Choir, providing music at numerous liturgies and concerts throughout the year.

A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Robert served as choir director, accompanist and cantor at St. Martin of Tours Roman Catholic Parish in San José, California for seven years.  For six years, he accompanied the Santa Clara University Mission Choir in Santa Clara, California.  He began his involvement in music ministry at a young age, and is an alumni of Music Ministry Alive!, a summer school and festival for young liturgical musicians founded and directed by composer David Haas. Robert holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Santa Clara University.

Michael Sheetz
Music Associate
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Pianist and conductor Michael Sheetz is honored to be a part of the St. Ignatius Music Staff as Music Associate, where he directs the Wallace Hall Choir and instrumental ensemble, co-directs the Parish Community Choir, and provides conducting and keyboard support for the acclaimed Sacred Music in a Sacred Space concert series. A recent recording of his playing with the St. Ignatius Children’s Choirs was regarded as “consistently excellent”  by the American Record Guide Review. Further duties include maintaining the church’s renowned music library as well as contracting, playing, and overseeing many of the church’s liturgies.

Michael is an active collaborative pianist, performing at venues including Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center (Terrace Theatre), the Metropolitan Opera Guild, NYU’s Jack H. Skirball Theatre, the Middlebury Opera Company, and the Atlantic Wind Symphony (as a concerto soloist).

The 2012-2013 season marks Michael’s appointment as accompanist for the Fairfield County Chorale, and a collaboration with the Weill Music Institute for Osvaldo Golijov’s La Pasión with conductor David Rosenmeyer. He is the staff choral accompanist at the Manhattan School of Music under Kent Tritle, where later this season he will engage in collaborations with the New York Philharmonic, New York City Opera, and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

In 2010 Michael served as Assistant Chorus Master for the Lincoln Center Festival Varese: (R)evolution, where he collaborated with Alan Gilbert and Steven Schick. In recent years Michael has performed live broadcasts on WQXR and Vermont Public Radio, as well as recital performances for Musica Sacra and the New York Oratorio Society. He has worked on the music staffs of the Aspen Opera Theatre Center, the College Light Opera Company, Middlebury Opera and is currently Program Assistant/Music Coordinator for La Lingua Della Lirica, a summer training program for opera singers in Novafeltria, Italy.

A native of Long Island, New York, Michael grew up playing in many Catholic Churches. With an avid interest in musical theatre, he has music directed many productions including Wuthering Heights, a world premiere. He holds a Master of Music and two Professional Studies degrees from Manhattan School of Music in accompanying and conducting. He is a graduate of Vassar College.

Maureen Haley
Director of Children's Choirs and High School Choir
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Maureen Haley has been a member of the professional choir at St. Ignatius for 21 years. An active musician in New York and New Jersey, she accompanies school choruses in the area; teaches voice and piano privately; and is a Professor of aural skills and music theory at Adelphi University.  She is currently the Director of the Kantorei and Schola choirs of the Pennsylvania Girlchoir.

As a professional singer, Maureen has worked and recorded with musicians such as Michael Tilson Thomas, Kent Tritle, Zubin Mehta, Richard Westenburg, Meredith Monk, Mark Morris, Steve Reich and Robert DeCormier, singing Renaissance through Contemporary and Folk repertoire.  She has received critical acclaim in the New York Times.  She particularly enjoys singing choral works and is passionate about providing choral experiences for young people.

Maureen received her Bachelor of Arts degree with a concentration in piano from Penn State University, and her Master of Music with a concentration in voice from Queens College, CUNY.   She completed her Kodaly certification at Westminster Choir College and James Madison University.  A lover of foreign languages, Ms. Haley has pursued post-graduate language studies in Latin, French, Spanish, Hebrew and German.

She is a past New Jersey Symphony Master Teacher, and was a choral and vocal music teacher in NJ public and private schools for 10 years.  She is a member of the National Association for Music Education, American Choral Directors Association and an officer of Kodaly New Jersey.  She guest lectures at Monmouth University, where she familiarizes future music teachers with the Kodaly methodology.

Sara Murphy
Executive Director
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Sara Murphy is Executive Director of Sacred Music in a Sacred Space and Administrator of the music department at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola. In this capacity she manages areas such as advertising, marketing, communication, fulfillment and fundraising for Sacred Music in a Sacred Space.  She also plays an active musical role at St. Ignatius as a member of the professional Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola, soloist and cantor.

Sara has been actively involved in liturgical music since beginning in the church choir in grade school, serving as a cantor in high school, and continuing as a choir member and cantor at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington, DC and Sacred Heart Cathedral in Newark, NJ.

From 1998-2011, Sara was a member of the staff at Biblical Archaeology Society, publisher of Biblical Archaeology Review magazine, most recently as editor of the society’s award-winning network of web sites and extensive email newsletter program.

Sara is also active as a vocal soloist. The New York Times has hailed Sara’s as a voice that “soared with a lovely musicality.” This season Sara serves as mezzo-soprano soloist in the Bach Magnificat and Mozart Solemn Vespers at Sacred Music in a Sacred Space and debuts two Wagner roles: Fricka in Die Walküre at The Dimenna Center and Ortrud in Lohengrin with Gateway Classical Music Society.  She also returns to Valley Lyric Opera (PA) as  Azucena in Il Trovatore. Additionally, she appears in Tutto Verdi singing ensembles with featured tenor Francisco Casanova.

2011-2012 performances included the soprano solos in Beethoven’s Mass in C Major with Pro Arte Chorale and the Westfield Symphony in New Jersey, and Amneris in a concert production of Aida in New York City. Sara appeared again as Amneris with Valley Lyric Opera (PA) and as soprano soloist in Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle with Pro Arte Chorale in New Jersey. She also performed  excerpts of Azucena, Amneris and Suzuki at the Teatro Nacional in the Dominican Republic with tenor Francisco Casanova. El Nacional reported of the performance, “the American Sara Murphy [was] absolutely unforgettable for her versatility and ability to conquer any sensitive soul.”

Other recent performances include an all-Schumann recital with pianist Dalton Baldwin in November 2010.

Sara was a 2010 Wagner Society of New York grant recipient and was also finalist in the 2010 Joy in Singing Competition. She won an Honorable Mention award in the 2010 George London Foundation Competition. In November 2009, she was named the first runner up in the South Orange Symphony Artist Competition.

Sara holds a Master of Music degree in voice performance from the Catholic University of America and a Bachelor of Arts degree in voice performance from Oberlin College.