Director of Music at Cathedral in Charleston, SC
  • AOZ
    Posts: 369
    Director of Music. The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist and the parish of St. Mary of the Annunciation in historic Charleston, South Carolina, seek a full-time Music Director. We desire a degreed professional who is a practicing Roman Catholic with parish experience. Strong organ skills are required. Conducting experience along with familiarity with the corpus of sacred choral literature is important.

    The ideal candidate will have experience with traditional Catholic music, sacred polyphony, Gregorian chant, the best of new sacred music, and organ. The successful candidate will have an excellent knowledge of the sacred liturgy. Computer skills are also important.

    This Cathedral parish of approximately 800 families and St. Mary’s parish of 300 families offer a competitive salary commensurate with experience, plus full benefits. The current Cathedral organ is a 25-rank Bedient Opus 22 tracker pipe organ. The current St. Mary’s organ is an historic Jardine, built in 1874 and restored in 1980.

    Please direct inquiries to:
    Fr. Gregory B. Wilson
    Cathedral of St. John the Baptist
    120 Broad Street
    Charleston, SC 29401
    843-724-8395
    frgregorywilson@gmail.com
  • Daniel Bennett PageDaniel Bennett Page
    Posts: 837
    A beautiful cathedral in a beautiful setting! The organ is one of the only authentic reproductions in the US (by builder Gene Bedient) of a French Romantic style instrument in the Cavaille Coll tradition. It's worth noting that Father Wilson is listed as Rector pro tem, which might be an important consideration for applicants.
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,022
    Here is what I know:

    1. Fr. Wilson is one of the Diocese' many capable EF Celebrants, and has brought the EF Mass to the Cathedral.
    2. He was appointed to this position by our Diocesan Administrator during the 1.5 years we were without a Bishop, and our new Bishop has been here less than 6 months. Of course, any priest can appointed elsewhere at any time!

    Here is what I think:

    1. Charleston (especially downtown) is a very historic area, and tends to be quite conservative. The whole of South Carolina is also, to varying extents. Upheaval is generally avoided.
    2. Charleston and its close-in "suburbs" are much cheaper than any area of D.C. for cost of living issues.
    3. The organ is sort of a romantic French rebuild of a classical French organ. It has "Barker levers" for the G.O. action. It's a nice organ, and is quite flexible, even if the console is a bit "different". The Cathedral's acoustics are superb.
    4. There is an active A.G.O. in the area, and the annual Spoleto Festival is full of arts of all sorts, including Piccolo Spoleto, with the l-Organo Series of 1-hour organ recitals. The Cathedral usually hosts a couple of them.
  • Fidelisinparvo
    Posts: 1
    I just vacationed in Charleston, visiting friends in Mount Pleasant. There are a lot of Northern transplants there, all of whom are enjoying the weather, the ocean, the three rivers that flow into the Atlantic. It is a beautiful place to live, and the schools are good in Mount Pleasant.
  • Donnaswan
    Posts: 585
    The only bad thing I know about this cathedral ,having sung there once on a ChoirTour just a few years ago, is the very rickety elevator to the choir loft! LOLOLOL The stairs are pretty scary too!

    Blessed the person who gets this job!! But they will have very large footsteps to fill ! The previous director is fantastic composer as well as organist, who is capable of sightreading absolutely anything put in front of him!

    Donna
  • ghmus7
    Posts: 1,486
    Just like to kindly correct Mr. Pages' remarks that "The organ is one of the only authentic reproductions in the US (by builder Gene Bedient) of a French Romantic style instrument in the Cavaille Coll tradition."

    Actually I can think of at least two others, In Houston at Rice University, and in ohio at Oberlin college. I think there may be others too.

    Thanks, GH
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,022
    I've been a pipe organ builder for over 30 years. I do have opinions (who doesn't), but we're getting into some really subjective area here. I've heard the organ in question, and played it a couple of times. It's good. It works for both Liturgy and concerts. When you start throwing around words like "only", "authentic", "reproductions", "French", "Romantic", and "tradition" you really are simply opening a Pandora's Box.
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,022
    I just played Noon Mass on this organ for the first time. It's usually in the Chapel in the undercroft, but Bishop Guglielmone said the Mass today, with groups of home-school families coming for First Friday, so it was moved upstairs. After deferring to the current paid staff, the duty fell to me after all.

    It is a bit different to play, but that took care of itself in about an hour of practice. There are no Cantors for Noon Masses, so I chanted the Alleluia and verse by myself, with organ accompaniment, from the console. I also sang "Adoro te devote" during Communion. Since the console is reversed, my voice quite easily projected down the nave, and everyone was quite able to hear me. (I really don't like using microphones if it can be avoided!)
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