Cantor for Spanish Masses

St. John Chrysostom Catholic Church
546 East Florence Avenue
Inglewood, CA 90301
Archdiocese of Los Angeles

St. John Chrysostom Catholic Church, a multiethnic parish in the city of Inglewood, California has an opening for an organist and cantor for three Spanish Masses at 7:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., and 2:30 p.m. The parish prefers candidates who can sing at all three Masses but will consider candidates interested in only one or two of the Masses.

The cantor will work with an organist to serve the needs of the Spanish-speaking congregation. The ideal candidate will be well-formed in the musical and liturgical traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. Duties include cantoring for three Sunday Spanish Masses, at 7:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., and at 2:30 p.m. (with a future possibility of including the 1:00 p.m. Spanish Mass) including brief pre-Mass rehearsal with the organist as required. One set of propers/hymnody and ordinary will normally be used at all Spanish Masses on a given weekend. This is for all Sundays in the year, along with Christmas Morning (8:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.; only at 10:00 a.m. if Christmas falls on another day of the week). The cantor will have the option to sub for other Masses on the weekend or at parish school Masses (every Tuesday and Thursday during the school year). The cantor, depending on training and skill, will have the option of singing at other large choral Masses during the year (perhaps 10-15, depending on the year).

The cantor sings from the front of the church, just outside the sanctuary. Accompaniment of singing at all Masses is with the pipe organ in the rear gallery.

Contributing to the 6.8 seconds of reverberation time are the travertine wainscoting, solid cement walls above, coffered, beautifully decorated cement ceiling rising sixty-eight feet above the floor of the nave, which is terrazzo over solid cement, except for the altar platform and sanctuary floor, which is covered with Calacatta Gold marble.

At the core of the repertoire of the Spanish Mass is chant (Gregorian, Mozarabic, and occasionally other kinds) in both Latin and Spanish; and traditional Spanish-language devotional hymnody from the modern Ibero-American repertoire. Congregational singing is accompanied by the organ at all eleven weekend Masses; instruments associated with popular and folk music are not used inside the church. Latin dialogues are sung at all Masses, Latin, Spanish, and English. The parish is in the process of learning a second chant ordinary (the simple Mass from Jubilate Deo is currently used at all Masses).

For information or to apply, contact
Steven Ottományi, Director of Music
liturgy13@hotmail.com