Music Staff

 

K. Scott Warren K. SCOTT WARREN, Interim Director of Music

Organist, pianist, conductor, and composer K. Scott Warren joined the music staff in 2011 as Associate Director of Music.  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 NANCIANNE PARRELLA, Associate Organist

Nancianne Parrella is Associate Organist of the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, where her duties include playing for masses, weddings, funerals, concerts, and other special celebrations as part of the Church’s extensive liturgy and music program. She has played a prominent part in the acclaimed concert series Sacred Music in a Sacred Space as organ soloist, continuo player, and accompanist for choral works.

Later in the 2011-12 season, she will present one of her signature Organ Plus! recitals with cellist Arthur Fiacco, harpist Victoria Drake, and violinist Jorge Ávila. These distinctive recitals demonstrate the versatility of the organ with various combinations of instruments and have become audience favorites. In addition to performances at St. Ignatius Loyola, she has brought Organ Plus! to All Saints Episcopal Church, Fort Worth, Texas; the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Newark, NJ; New York’s Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church; Calvary Church, Summit, NJ; and St. Agnes Cathedral, Rockville Center, NY. Ms. Parrella has also been featured with Mr. Fiacco at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival Organ Series in Charleston, SC.

Continuing her active performance career, in 2009 Nancianne Parrella was one of two organists with the New York Philharmonic for Music Director Lorin Maazel’s farewell concerts of the Britten War Requiem and she performed on the prestigious Methuen Memorial Music Hall Organ Recital Series in Massachusetts.

During the 2008-2009 season she also performed recitals at All Saint’s Episcopal Church, Fort Worth, Texas, and at the Princeton University Chapel. She was part of the American Guild of Organists’ celebration of the International Year of the Organ, both in New York City and as soloist with the University of Massachusetts Amherst Symphony Orchestra, in the Poulenc Concerto for Organ, Strings, and Timpani and Stephen Paulus’s Concerto for Organ, Timpani, Percussion, and Strings. She also performed the Paulus concerto for the New York City Regional Convention of the AGO.

Other notable recent performances have been with both Musica Sacra and the Oratorio Society of New York conducted by Kent Tritle; with Voices of Ascension under Dennis Keene; with the Choir of Trinity Church, Wall Street; and with the women’s ensemble AMUSE. At Spoleto Festival USA, she played the Poulenc Concerto and Julian Wachner’s Cymbale, of which the Charleston Post and Courier reported that “…Nancianne Parrella as featured soloist took charge of Mr. Wachner’s vigorous complexity with gusto and aggressive control.” Ms. Parrella was also the Founding Director of the Intermezzo chamber music series as part of the Spoleto Festival USA, when it began in Charleston, SC.

Among America’s preeminent choral accompanists, Nancianne Parrella is an Emeritus Faculty member of Westminster Choir College of Rider University, Princeton, NJ, 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 and can be heard on their most recent CD Heaven to Earth, released by AVIE.

Ms. Parrella was long associated with America’s pioneering choral conductor, Robert Shaw, with whom she toured and recorded in the U.S., France, and Brazil. She has also collaborated with noted conductors: Kurt Masur, Charles Dutoit, Lorin Maazel with the New York Philharmonic; Wolfgang Sawallisch with The Philadelphia Orchestra; Zdenek Macal and Neeme Järvi with the New Jersey Symphony; and James Bagwell and Louis Langrée in New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival.

Previous church music collaborations include with Frederick Grimes at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, New York City, and its Bach Vespers, and with John Bertalot at Trinity Church, Princeton, NJ. She was also for many seasons organist for the Bethlehem Bach Festival, directed by Greg Funfgeld, and co-director with William Trego of the renowned Princeton High School Choir.

Nancianne Parrella has recorded on the MSR, AMDG, AVIE, Chesky, Delos, Gothic, Dorian, Telarc and Teldec labels. The American Organist magazine hailed her CD Les Corps Glorieux, performed with cellist Arthur Fiacco and harpist Victoria Drake as one that “…exudes a spirit of lovely serenity...,” and her Jubilations, recorded with St. Ignatius Brass as “…sweeping, dramatic and awe inspiring…” She is featured in two remarkable DVDs: The Organistas and Creating the Stradivarius of Organs, which reveal the development of the King of Instruments and the design and installation of the N.P. Mander Organ at St. Ignatius Loyola, both released by Pheasant Eye Productions.



Philip AndersonPHILIP ANDERSON, Principal Cantor

Philip Anderson is an active and busy tenor in New York City. He is a member of three early music ensembles; ARTEK, My Lord Chamberlain’s Consort, and TENET. He has been a soloist in Carnegie Hall singing Handel’s Messiah with the Masterworks Chorus and Orchestra. In 2007 he appeared on Broadway in Coram Boy. He is a frequent guest artist with Chatham Baroque, Piffaro, and The Queen’s Chamber Band. He has been a soloist with the Metropolis Ensemble, Orchestra of St. Lukes, and Sacred Music in a Sacred Space. He has toured with Mark Morris Dance Group, the Waverly Consort, and New York’s Ensemble for Early Music singing the title role in The Play of Daniel. In 2012 Philip tours the U.S. and Europe with the Philip Glass Ensemble in Einstein on the Beach. Most weekends he can be heard singing hymns at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, where he is the Parish cantor. His many recordings include the Grammy Award nominated O Magnum Mysterium with The Tiffany Consort. When not singing he can be found in his vegetable garden in North Salem, NY.



Robert ReuterROBERT REUTER, Associate Musician

Robert Reuter, conductor, singer, pianist and organist, is thrilled to serve as Associate Musician at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in New York City where he works in contributing and shaping the church’s vibrant liturgical music program and much-acclaimed 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 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 Maestro Kent Tritle.  The a cappella concert was recorded and will be commercially released later this year under 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.  Recently, he sang with members of nine New York choruses in a live radio broadcast of The Choral Mix with Kent Tritle on New York City’s WQXR. 

Robert’s liturgical responsibilities include leading the music at the weekly Sunday evening 7:30 services, directing and accompanying the Canticum Sacrum choir.  Additionally, he directs the music at many of the church’s Christmas, Holy Week and Easter services.  Along with his colleague Michael Sheetz, Robert co-directs the church’s 50-member Parish Community Choir, providing music at numerous liturgies and concerts throughout the year.

In addition to his liturgical responsibilities, Robert is the Technical and Logistics Coordinator for Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, arranging and overseeing the concert series’ often elaborate set-ups.  He also maintains the Music Department’s extensive library of choral and orchestral music.

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 SheetzMICHAEL SHEETZ, Associate Musician

Based in New York City, Michael Sheetz is active as a conductor, vocal coach, and collaborative pianist. Performance venues have included Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center (Terrace Theatre), the Metropolitan Opera Guild, the Middlebury Opera Company, and the Atlantic Wind Symphony, as a concerto soloist.  As a conductor he has led productions of Into the Woods and Wuthering Heights, a world premiere, and as a choral accompanist he has collaborated with Musica Sacra, Oratorio Society of New York, Greenwich Choral Society, and the Make Music New York Festival. He has worked on the music staffs of the Aspen Opera Theatre Center, the College Light Opera Company, and currently serves as Music Coordinator for La Lingua Della Lirica, a summer training program for singers in Novafeltria, Italy.

Recently Michael has performed live broadcasts on WQXR and Vermont Public Radio. In 2010 Michael served as Assistant Chorus Master for the Lincoln Center Festival Varèse: (R)evolution, and has collaborated with Maestros Kent Tritle, Alan Gilbert, Steven Schick, Emmanuel Plasson and Philippe Entremont. He is an Associate Musician for the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola and Director of Youth Music Ministries at St. Francis Catholic Church. Michael holds Masters and Professional Studies degrees from Manhattan School of Music in accompanying and conducting, and is a graduate of Vassar College.



Mary HuffMARY HUFF, Director of Children’s Choirs and High School Choir

Mary Huff, a native of Greenville, SC, is Director of Children’s Choirs and High School Choir at St. Ignatius Loyola Church in New York City, where she conducts and administers the four graded choirs for over 100 children in grades one through twelve. She graduated cum laude from Furman University in 1999, and continued her musical studies on full scholarship at the Yale University Institute of Sacred Music where she earned a Master of Music degree in 2001. She continued further studies in music education at Westminster Choir College.

Mary has held positions as an organist and choral conductor in churches in South Carolina, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. She has taught music to children of all grade levels (K4-12) in Catholic, independent, and inner-city schools. She also serves as Associate Director of Music at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City. Mary and her husband, Canadian organist Andrew Henderson, have two sons.



Sara MurphySARA MURPHY, Music Administrator and Executive Director of Sacred Music in a Sacred Space

Sara Murphy is Executive Director of Sacred Music in a Sacred Space and Music Administrator of the liturgical music program at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola. She is also a member of the 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 employed at the Biblical Archaeology Society, most recently as editor of the society’s award-winning network of web sites and extensive email newsletter program. Sara appears regularly as a soloist in recital, oratorio and opera performances. She has performed with duo pianists Ami and Pascal Rogé in an all Brahms program, and has collaborated with pianist Dalton Baldwin in an all Schumann recital. She has served as soloist in a concert of opera excerpts, in Beethoven’s Mass in C Major and in Schubert’s Mirjams Siegesgesang and Die Allmacht with Canta Lyrica of Ridgewood, NJ under the direction of Joshua Greene. She has performed the soprano solos in the Szymanowski Stabat Mater, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and the beloved “Pie Jesu” from the Duruflé Requiem for Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, where she also premiered a setting of Jesu, Bambino and Sweet L’il Jesus Boy commissioned for her. Sara has been a Wagner Society of New York grant recipient as well as a finalist in the Joy in Singing Competition and an honorable mention winner in the George London Foundation 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.