Steven Ball is appointed director of sacred music for the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales, St. Louis, Missouri. The Oratory music program features a varied choral repertoire spanning several centuries performed by several ensembles. The liturgies are conducted in Latin using the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
A native of Michigan, Ball studied at the University of Michigan where he later taught and served as university carillonneur and director of the Stearns Collection of Musical Instruments. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 2007 as a student of Marilyn Mason. A former Fulbright Scholar to the Netherlands, Ball has worked in the world of campanology (the study of bells), improvisation, as an organ consultant, for silent film accompaniment, and as a theater organist. He has performed in the United States and abroad including the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, Portugal, Ireland, England, Switzerland, and Italy. He was inducted as a Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem (a Papal Knighthood) in 2017.
He leaves New Jersey where he last served as organist and director of outreach (now emeritus) for the world’s largest pipe organ, located in Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City. His time there also included a position at the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While living in Michigan, he served as cathedral organist at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Detroit and senior staff organist at the Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor.
For information: www.institute-christ-king.org/stlouis/ and www.stevenball.com.
