Joel Kumro is busy preparing a fantastic program.
Hear him live this Friday at 7:30 p.m.!
The Music for a Cathedral Space Concert Series is made possible
by the generosity of the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.
St. Benedict's Director of Music, Organist, and Choirmaster Joel Kumro performs on the recently-installed Juget-Sinclair Choir Organ on Friday, May 12 at 7:30.
Program
Præludium in G major – Nicolaus Bruhns (1665–1697)
Premier Livre d’Orgue (select movements) – Pierre Du Mage (1674–1751)
Sei gegrüßet, Jesu gütig (select movements), BWV 768 – J.S. Bach (1685–1750)
Organ Sonata No.4 in A Minor, Op.98, Josef Rheinberger – (1839–1901)
Biography
Joel S. Kumro received an undergraduate music degree from SUNY Buffalo State and studied organ privately with Margaret Harper at the Eastman School of Music. He received a Master of Arts in Liturgical Music from Saint John’s University in Collegeville MN, where he studied organ with Kim Kasling, voice with Carolyn Finley, chant with Fr. Anthony Ruff, and conducting with Axel Theimer.
Joel is the Choirmaster and Organist at Saint Benedict Catholic Church in Richmond, VA. In addition to planning music for all liturgical celebrations and directing choirs of both adults and children, he also coordinates the parish concert series and is the instructor of Liturgical Music at Saint Benedict Catholic School.
Performing frequently as an organist, tenor, and harpsichordist, Joel has appeared with organizations including the National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NPM,) the Richmond and Twin Cities Chapters of the American Guild of Organists (AGO,) American Institute of Organbuilders, Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians, RVA Baroque, Capitol Opera Richmond, Classical Revolution RVA, Richmond Concert Chorale, Central Virginia Masterworks Chorale, Wren Masters, Forgotten Clefs, Camerata di Sant’ Antonio, and the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus.
Among his notable appearances include featured soloist for the dedication ceremony of the Robert H. Jackson U.S. Courthouse in Buffalo. In 2018, he presented the modern premiere of Michel Richard de Lalande’s grand motet Ad Te Domino Clamabo, S. 64, with RVA Baroque. He was a featured recitalist for the national conventions of NPM in 2018 and 2020. In 2021, he performed on the Summer Organ Recital Series at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC, and was the tenor soloist for Handel’s Messiah with Central Virginia Masterworks Chorale. In 2022, he performed an organ recital at Our Lady of Victory National Shrine & Basilica in Buffalo NY, and served as music director and harpsichordist for Capitol Opera Richmond’s production of Monteverdi’s opera L'incoronazione di Poppea. More recently, Joel taught on the faculty of the Richmond AGO Pipe Organ Encounter+, and performed a program of tenor arias from Bach cantatas with the Wren Masters in Williamsburg VA.
Joel is a member of the Church Musicians’ Guild of Buffalo and NPM, where he serves the Director of Music Ministries Forum. He is active in the Richmond Chapter of the American Guild of Organists where he has served on the Executive Committee. In addition, he serves on the board of directors of the Richmond-based period instrument ensemble RVA Baroque, as well as the Charlottesville-based ensemble Three Notch’d Road. He continues vocal studies with Dr. Patrick Carlin.
Joel has been published twice in the theological journal Obsculta including his article, “Millennials, the Church, and Liturgy.”