125 Monument Circle · Indianapolis, IN 46204 · 317.636.4577
Dr. Dana Marsh, Director of Music for Christ Church Cathedral
For Immediate Release
June 25, 2010
Cathedral Calls Director of Music from Cambridge
Indianapolis, IN – Christ Church Cathedral has called Dr. Dana Marsh, Bye-Fellow, Director of Chapel Music and Assistant Director of Music at Girton College, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK), as its new Director of Music. Dr. Marsh assumes musical direction of the Cathedral’s Choirs, including the 127-year-old Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys, the Girls’ Choir, the Coro Hispanica and the Christ Church Singers on August 15.
From 1992 to 2000, Dr Marsh was Director of the Paulist Boy Choristers of California, which performed live concert broadcasts on classical radio in Los Angeles, with television appearances on NBC-TV’s “The Tonight Show”. The Paulist Choristers performed and recorded with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the American Bach Soloists and produced a number of motion picture soundtracks, including Miramax’s “Good Will Hunting”.
Dr. Marsh’s musical background was shaped by significant experiences as a boy chorister at St. Thomas Fifth Avenue and later at Salisbury Cathedral in England. An acclaimed counter-tenor soloist with 25 concert tours worldwide, he has performed and recorded with the American Bach Soloists, with the New York Collegium under Gustav Leonhardt, the Concert Royal, the Academy of Ancient Music in the UK, and has recorded for Sony Classical, Universal, Koch International Classics, and RCM, as well as recording 15 discs with the Choir of New College, Oxford, UK.
He has worked with a variety of choral and instrumental ensembles, including the London Mozart Players and the Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra of Los Angeles, and has previously served as an organist, conductor or music director at St. Mark’s Cathedral, Seattle; Trinity R.C. Church, Rochester, N.Y.; St. Thomas Church Fifth Ave., NYC; and Episcopal Parish of St. Luke’s, Monrovia, CA.
Dr. Marsh earned his Bachelors in Music, Organ, from the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, before studying organ improvisation under the direction of Gerre Hancock and vocal studies in Los Angeles and Amsterdam. Teachers include M. Seale Wright, Peter Hallok, David Craighead, Max Van Egmond, Kari Windingstadt and Virginia Fox. In 2007 he earned his doctorate in historical musicology from Queens College, University of Oxford, UK. His publications and conference papers range from sacred polyphony to the impact Henry VIII and the English Reformation on sacred music. At the University of Oxford he taught the history of Western Music at five colleges, with courses on Italian culture and Renaissance music.
“Dana brings to CCC an amazing depth of talent and experience. Having grown up singing in Anglican choirs, leading them, and studying music performance and musicology at prestigious conservatories and universities, he is the right person to lead our Cathedral’s music program with its rich tradition into an exciting new future. He also shows a profound understanding of how singing and music making can enrich the liturgy and prayers of the congregation. He will be a wonderful addition to our staff, our congregation and the larger Indianapolis music community. ” Says the Very Rev. Stephen Carlsen, Dean of Christ Church Cathedral.
Before arriving in Indianapolis, Dr. Marsh will lead the Choir of Girton College Cambridge on a European concert tour, performing in Basel (Switzerland), Bruges, Antwerp (Belgium) and Amsterdam (the Netherlands). The Choir will also appear at the prestigious international choral festival, Voci D’Europa, on the island of Sardinia off the coast of Italy. This will not be his first residency in Indiana, as his father, Peter Marsh, taught violin in Bloomington at the Jacobs School of Music, IU while Dr. Marsh was an undergraduate at the Eastman School.
“I look immensely forward to contributing to the musical life of CCC and the Indianapolis musical scene. I was bowled over by the colleagues here – the clergy and staff have cultivated an impressive and caring working environment, led by the vision of Dean Carlsen. For the practice of choral music in the Anglican Tradition, I believe that CCC offers a healthy and vibrant support system that is second to none,” says Dr Marsh.
Dr. Marsh succeeds Dr. Frederick Burgomaster, who retired from Christ Church Cathedral as organist-choirmaster in 2009 after 32 years of service. During this time the Cathedral choirs achieved an international reputation as a touring choir. In addition to performances at weekly Sunday worship services, the choirs perform a weekly Evensong service September through May. They have appeared with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and on radio and television broadcasts, and have released several recordings, some of which are available on iTunes. The services at which the Choir sings are broadcast weekly on WICR, 88.7 FM. For more information about the cathedral choirs, visit www.cccindy.org.
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