The Catholic Institute of Sacred Music Announces Christopher Berry Hired as Assistant Professor at St. Patrick’s Seminary and University, and as Director of Chorister Program
Menlo Park, CA – May 17, 2025 – The Catholic Institute of Sacred Music (CISM) is thrilled to announce the appointment of Christopher Berry as Assistant Professor of Sacred Music at St. Patrick’s Seminary and University. Berry will also serve as Organist and Director of Sacred Music at the Church of the Nativity in Menlo Park, California, and as the Director of CISM’s newly-founded Chorister Program for young singers in grades 3+. He joins a world-class roster of faculty, including Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka, CISM’s founding director, as well as adjunct faculty such as Dr. Frank La Rocca, Dr. Charles Weaver, Dr. Christoph Tietze, Dr. Edward Schaefer, and Dr. Joseph Dyer, all outstanding experts in their respective fields.
A distinguished musician, Christopher Berry brings a wealth of experience in organ performance, choral conducting, and Gregorian chant to his new roles. With a career molded by studies under renowned mentors such as Jesse Eschbach, James Higdon, Marie-Claire Alain, Andrew Megill, and Simon Carrington, Berry has earned international recognition, including a Premier Prix from the conservatory of Rueil-Malmaison in Paris. His deep knowledge of early music and chant, born out of work at the Paris Conservatory, has profoundly influenced his approach to sacred music.
Berry’s extensive conducting experience includes leading choirs at iconic venues such as St. Peter’s Basilica, Canterbury Cathedral, and Westminster Abbey. As Director of Music at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, he made a commercial recording and conducted an historic concert in the Sistine Chapel. After redefining a model music program for the Basilica of St. Josaphat in Milwaukee, Berry moved to St. Stanislaus Oratory, where the music program for the parish flourished with new ensembles and a chorister program grounded in traditional principles of chant and polyphony. While developing choirs at St. Stanislaus and at various summer conferences, he taught as Professor of Organ at Carthage College and University of Wisconsin-Parkside.
“We are delighted to welcome Christopher Berry to the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music at St. Patrick’s Seminary,” said Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka, professor of sacred music and director of CISM. “His extraordinary talent, dedication to sacred music, and proven ability to develop excellent choirs and organists make him an ideal director for our Chorister Program, an inspiring leader for the development of the sacred music program at the vibrant Church of the Nativity in Menlo Park, and a vital year-round addition to our faculty.”
At the Church of the Nativity, Berry will oversee the sacred music program, enriching liturgical celebrations with his expertise in organ performance and choral direction. As director of CISM’s Chorister Program, he will guide young singers in developing their musical and spiritual formation, fostering a deep appreciation for the Church’s sacred music tradition.
For more information about the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, please visit catholicinstituteofsacredmusic.org.
About the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music
The Catholic Institute of Sacred Music, based at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California, is dedicated to drawing souls to Jesus Christ through the beauty of sacred music and the liturgy. The Institute offers a series of graduate-level coursework for credit, designed to help church musicians and clergy better to know and love the Church’s treasury of sacred music and her teachings on sacred music. Its goal is to equip students with the theological, philosophical, and historical knowledge, as well as the practical skills (singing, playing, conducting, composing, organizing, fundraising) necessary to build excellent sacred music programs in parishes and schools. It aims to help others revitalize the faith of Catholics and instill vitality in parish and school life through a vibrant sacred music program. They are committed to a faithful and generous service of the Church. The Institute cultivates fidelity, resiliency, a healthy sense of creativity, and selflessness within our student body and faculty as characteristics of our service as we labor together in the vineyard of the Lord to bring in a rich harvest. 
Media Contact:
Olivia Malchow, Program Associate | olivia.malchow@stpsu.edu
Christopher Berry – Biography
In June 2025, Christopher Berry joins the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music (CISM) as Assistant Professor of Sacred Music. Berry will also serve as Organist and Director of Sacred Music at the Church of the Nativity in Menlo Park, California, and as the Director of CISM’s newly-founded Chorister Program for young singers in grades 3+.
Christopher Berry’s international career as an organist began in 1993, when he served as an organist for the final liturgy of World Youth Day, presided over by Pope St. John Paul II. Since then, he has performed concerts throughout the United States and Europe, including Belgium, Czech Republic, England, Italy, France, and Poland. His performance venues have included Notre Dame Cathedral, La Madeleine, and St. Sulpice, Paris; St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague; and St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome.
Prof. Berry was a two-time semifinalist in the International Organ Competition of the City of Paris and a two-time semifinalist in the American Guild of Organists’ National Competition in Organ Improvisation. He has appeared on Pipedreams and as organist on the compact disk recordings Alzad la Cruz and Psalms, both recorded at The Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas.
Prof. Berry holds degrees in Organ Performance from the University of North Texas as a student of Prof. Jesse Eschbach, where he graduated as the Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Organ, and from the University of Kansas, where he was a Graduate Teaching Assistant as a student of Prof. James Higdon. Prof. Berry was awarded a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship for the 2000-2001 academic year, during which time he won the Premier Prix from the Conservatoire of Rueil-Malmaison, as a student of François Henri-Houbart, Organist of the Church of the Madeleine in Paris. His improvisation study during this time was with Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin, organist of St. Sulpice, Paris. During this year, he also studied Gregorian chant conducting with Louis-Marie Vigne at the Paris Conservatory and sang in the Chœur grégorien de Paris. Prof. Berry spent the summer of 1996 in Paris studying with eminent organists Marie-Claire Alain and Marie-Madeleine Duruflé.
Prof. Berry leaves the position of Director of Sacred Music and Organist at St. Stanislaus Oratory in Milwaukee, WI, where he built a renowned music program, including a burgeoning chorister program for young singers. From 2011 to 2019, he was Director of Music at the Basilica of St. Josaphat in Milwaukee, where he recorded Pax Tibi with the choir that he built there. While in Wisconsin, Berry also worked as Professor of Organ at Carthage College, and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, both in Kenosha, WI.
From 2009 to 2011, he was Organist and Choirmaster at the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in Dallas, where he led their renowned choir in English choral residencies at Litchfield Cathedral, Canterbury Cathedral, St. George’s, Windsor Castle, and Westminster Abbey. As Director of Liturgical Music at the Pontifical North American College in Vatican City from 2007 to 2009, Prof. Berry conducted a private concert for patrons of the Chicago Symphony in the Sistine Chapel and produced a recording with the seminary choir, Regina Immaculata, on which are heard his own organ harmonizations of the Gregorian chant propers for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
From 2003 to 2007, he was Music Director and Organist at the Church of the Holy Trinity on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, whose professional choir he directed in singing the full chant Propers and polyphonic ordinaries every Sunday and feast day. During this time, he was also heard regularly on Sirius Satellite Radio as an Associate Organist of The Cathedral of Saint Patrick, New York City. Prof. Berry’s full-time professional career as a church musician began when he was appointed Assistant Director of Music at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. in 2001, upon his return from France. In his position, he performed regularly for internationally broadcast liturgies as well as for daily services at the basilica.
Prof. Berry has worked as the accompanist for the University of Kansas Chamber Singers under Simon Carrington, and as Staff Accompanist at Westminster Choir College, where he worked with conductors such as Anton Armstrong, Lorin Maazel, Andrew Megill, and Dale Warland. Prof. Berry is immensely grateful for these experiences, along with the earlier, but not less profound, tutelage of Dr. Peter Latona, Dr. Marie Rubis-Bauer, Dr. Michael Bauer, Michie Akin, Dr. Lynn Trapp, and Robbie Giroir.
Prof. Berry is a member of the Board of Directors of the Church Music Association of America, for whose colloquia he regularly serves as a conductor and organist. He lives in Menlo Park with his wife and six daughters, and truly considers himself “blessed among women.”