Orthodox Music in America’s 40 Under 40: Benedict Sheehan

In recent years, Orthodox music in America has started to mature and become publicly visible at a high level. Certainly, Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil has certainly become a staple of American choirs, and Arvo Pärt was the most performed living composer in the world for eight years running (John Williams knocked him down to second place this year). Beyond that, we have been blessed over the last decade or so with a tidal wave of creative energy and output by American church musicians, including people in every category of participant — composers, conductors, singers, teachers, and hymnographers — working in every chant and choral idiom you can think of. Not just Byzantine chant and the different genres of Slavic choral music, but also Georgian chant, Greek-American choral polyphony, Finnish choral music, and beyond.

This year’s Grammy nominations reflected these developments: Kurt Sander’s Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, recorded by the Patriarch Tikhon Choir under the baton of Maestro Peter Jermihov, was nominated for Best Choral Performance. That is to say, an English-language Orthodox choral masterwork, written by an American composer and led by an Orthodox conductor, was recognized at the level of the Grammys. It didn’t win, but ten years ago it would have seemed impossible for a work like that to have been recorded by that level of ensemble, and certainly it would  never been heard by any voting members of the Academy, let alone nominated.

Not only is the creative energy and output maturing, but most of the leaders of the last couple of decades are, too. They’re now inspiring a new generation — a group of hard-working, faithful church musicians coming up in their 20s and 30s who have been brought up on the parish-level work that was done by the leaders who are now in their 40s and 50s. These are men and women of every heritage and musical style and walk of life, and they are all making their own contributions to Orthodox music in America, be it at the level of the parish or in the world of professional musicianship. Throughout 2020, we want to spend some time letting these new faces and voices tell you their stories — who they are, where they come from, what they’re working on, and what they hope for with respect to the musical and liturgical life of the Orthodox Church.

Benedict Sheehan is the first of these you’re going to hear from, and that choice was rather made for us by the calendar. Tomorrow is his fortieth birthday, so today is the very last day that he meets the under-40 criteria. Also, today is Valentine’s Day, and the musical partnership he has with his wife Talia figures in prominently with what he’s going to tell you about, so it seemed appropriate from that angle, too.

We caught up with Benedict by phone. Conversation is edited for clarity.

Read full interview at johnofdamascus.org