WOULD LIKE to share with our readership that earlier in the month St. Paul’s Choir School, Cambridge, MA, officially announced that Mr. Brandon Straub will take up the post of Director of Music for the parish and choir school beginning July 1. While I don’t know Mr. Straub personally, I have heard from those who do know him that he knows his business well and achieves amazing results. He is active both as choir trainer (adults and children) and performer, in sacred and secular settings, and was chosen from an international pool of applicants. Already this fall he will prepare the choristers to sing Mahler’s 8th Symphony with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
National Profile • As head of the only Catholic boy’s choir school in America, he will hold a position of national importance, especially in the eyes of all of those who work toward the renewal of Catholic sacred music from sea to shining sea.
Constructive Criticism • At the same time, I believe it only fair to mention that the former Director of Music, Mr. James Kennerley, a much beloved figure, was unceremoniously fired before Easter 2023, with no reason being given to the public, leaving them to assume the worst. The school was forced to admit that nothing bad that had taken place; they just “went in different directions.” I’ve heard that boys and parents alike were devastated.1
Their Reputation • The choir achieved amazing heights under Mr. Kennerley’s direction, which can be heard here (the choir sings Fauré’s Requiem, among other things, under Kennerley’s direction), while the Boston Globe wrote warmly of the “pure-voiced boys of Saint Paul’s Choir School” after they performed Stranvinski’s Persephoné (prepped by Kennerley) with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the famous Tanglewood Festival Chorus.
Transitions Are Tough • I hope and pray that the choir boys will be able to work through this tough time of transition and come out all the stronger at the other end, thus enriching the Church with their unique musical gifts. We at CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED wish them and Mr. Straub all the best!
1 As someone who’s spent decades training youngsters in sacred music, I was saddened to observe that situation. For all the talk of openness, transparency, and honesty in the Church today, it sometimes seems that pastors, bishops, and leaders within our ranks offend gravely in this area. I consider every appearance of propriety to be crucial. At the same time, owing to our fallen human nature there will always be difficulties in this world—and that’s where forgiveness can play a huge role.
