The Recovering Choir Director

The term “chant jock” was coined by Jeffrey Tucker recently.^[1]

Here’s a profile of one written by by Elizabeth Steele and published in the January 15, 2010 edition of Canada’s Catholic Register newspaper:

HALIFAX – Luke Togni is old school — very old school. Or old schola, if you prefer.

Luke Togni

Togni, 22, is passionate about Gregorian chant and refers to himself as “second in command” in a Halifax-based chant group, or schola. Directed by Robert Bruce and together for the past two years, the schola sings monthly at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Halifax, and less frequently at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Halifax.

Togni is the youngest member of the schola. Though he seems to live and breathe chant, he has eclectic taste in music. His personal choices range from 20th-century orchestral music to Russian and Greek Orthodox sacred music, jazz and classic rock. Togni grew up listening to chant, as both his father and grandfather studied it during his childhood. He began singing it with his father’s choir when he was 13, but says that age has increased his appreciation for this ancient form of music. [Read full article]

(H/T: Robert Bruce via the MusicaSacra Forum)