Hello!
My name is Brian Carson, and I am the new Director of Music at Nativity of Our Lord. I am very much looking forward to working with the terrific people here, and playing the organ in the equally beautiful church.
As I have learned more about it over the past few weeks, Nativity is certainly an exceptional parish that offers so much, and has so much potential to be developed!
I am originally from Watertown, New York, and went to Oberlin Conservatory and the Eastman School of Music where I met my wife, Catherine Rodland, who is an Artist-in-Residence at Saint Olaf College, teaching organ and music theory.
We have two children who are also musicians: our son, John, is finishing up a Master’s in piano in Saarbrücken, Germany, and our daughter, Cate, is working on an undergraduate degree at Eastman in violin.
I have always been fascinated with how music works with the liturgy to deepen our sense of the sacred and to focus the prayer of the congregation. It also has a tremendous ability to keep texts which are sung firmly rooted in our memories, often for a lifetime.
I also very much enjoy passing this love of liturgical music on to young people in the form of boys’ and girls’ choirs, a number of which I have started from scratch, and trained them up through tours of various places in the U.S., and even to Europe!
So, in addition to playing the organ at Nativity each week, I also look forward to restarting the choir of boys and girls, and exploring even more advanced options for them as the opportunities present themselves.
I also very much look forward to meeting with the all of you!