5976 Wed Oct 08, 2008 @ 12:45 PM Music | Wednesday Organ Recital
featuring Sal Soria, Cathedral Organist
Recital Cathedral Sal Soria
5977 Wed Oct 15, 2008 @ 12:45 PM Music | Organ Demonstration Only
Recital Cathedral Sal Soria
6067 Sat Oct 25, 2008 @ 7:00 PM Music | Evening Organ Recital
featuring Namhee Han, Michael Arnold
and Sal Soria, Cathedral Organist
Recital Cathedral
6138 Wed Oct 29, 2008 @ 12:45 PM ORGAN RECITAL Recital Cathedral Sal Soria, Cathedral Organist
6139 Wed Nov 05, 2008 @ 12:45 PM ORGAN RECITAL W/Se-Eun Lim, Organist Recital CATHEDRAL Sal Soria, Cathedral Organist
6141 Wed Nov 19, 2008 @ 12:45 PM ORGAN RECITAL W/ Sal Soria, Cathedral Organist Recital Cathedral
6142 Wed Nov 26, 2008 @ 12:45 PM NO ORGAN RECITAL OR DEMONSTRATION TODAY! Recital Cathedral Sal Soria, Cathedral Organist


Human beings sang long before they were able to express their thoughts, voicing in simple imitation sounds they heard in nature, the twitter of birds, the rustle of leaves, the howling of coyotes. Primitive man sang to invoke the gods with prayers and incantations, to celebrate rites of passage, to recount history and heroics. There is no human settlement, no matter how distant or isolated, that does not sing.

Congregations of Jews in 500 BC sang King David's Psalms and The Song of Solomon. After the 4th Century when Christianity was recognized as the official religion of the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church developed Western music for the next thirteen centuries, evolving from plainchant to highly developed polyphonic choral style.

The aim of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels' music ministry, under Music Director Frank Brownstead, is to develop a sacred music program that encompasses the beautiful traditions of the Church and the multiple cultural traditions of the Archdiocese. In the Catholic context music is sung prayer, and music and liturgy are handmaidens.

Frank Brownstead

Frank Brownstead is the Director of Music at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. He holds the Master of Sacred Music Degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York. He has served as Music Coordinator in the Office for Worship, parish musician (most recently at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Westwood) and educator. He has been on the faculty of Mount St. Mary’s College since 1979. He coordinated and conducted the music for the visit of Pope John Paul II to Los Angeles in 1987.

Brownstead is the recipient of the Laudatus Award from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the Saint Andrew’s Abbey Sacred Arts Award, and the National Pastoral Musicians “Musician of the Year” Award (2001). He is also on the Board of Directors of the Shakespeare Festival Los Angeles. Mr. Brownstead has also worked extensively in the recording of liturgical music.

Central to the Cathedral’s music mission is to enhance worship by giving voice to the glory and beauty of the liturgy. This is accomplished by the development of the singing assembly, the principal musical body of the faithful. The voices of the Cathedral Choir and Chorale (Spanish Choir) and that of the assembly exist in a dynamic relationship.  The choirs both encourage the singing of the assembly and add beauty to the liturgy, prefiguring the gathering of the saints and angelic choirs in the New Jesusalem.

Each Sunday at the 10:00 a.m. Mass, the Cathedral Choir sings under the direction of Frank Brownstead, Director of Music.  The Chorale, under the direction of Antonio Espinal, sings at the 12:30 p.m. Spanish Mass.  Samuel Soria is the Cathedral Organist.

The Cathedral Choir and the Chorale are open to volunteers by audition.