EVEN SMITH is the music director at St. Stephen the First Martyr Catholic Church, an apostolate of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP) in Sacramento, California. He trains and directs a mixed choir that sings full Gregorian propers, ordinaries, and sacred polyphony at more than 100 traditional Latin Masses per year. An enthusiastic teacher, Keven offers several levels of music classes at St. Stephen’s for children ages 4 and up as well as adults. His eclectic teaching methodology—which is perpetually under development—incorporates elements of Edwin Gordon’s Music Learning Theory, John Feierabend’s Conversational Solfege, and Dalcroze solfege, as well as the philosophies and techniques of James Jordan.
Before accepting his current position in 2014, Keven was the founding director of a men’s schola and a girls’ choir at the Fresno (CA) Latin Mass community, which is now an apostolate of the FSSP. He has also maintained a freelance writing business since 2003. Keven earned a Bachelor of Music degree (in clarinet performance) from the Curtis Institute of Music and a Master of Professional Writing degree from the University of Southern California. He has studied voice with Pamela Hicks and organ with Dan Nguyen. Keven lives in Sacramento with his wife and five musical children.
