November 29, 2023
Join us at The H.A.R.P. Museum at the Irish Cultural Center of the Mohawk Valley on
Wednesday, November 29, at 7:00 PM for our first Notre Dame University Father Hesburgh Lecture
Series speaker.
Our speaker is Dr. Mark Doerries. Doerries will virtually transport us to Kylemore Abbey in Ireland for
some Christmas cheer with readings, performances, and recipes. This lecture celebrates the Yuletide
by showcasing choral choirs, art textile and painting, fiction, and a Victorian Christmas at Kylemore.
Doerries is the Head of the Graduate Conducting Studio and an Associate Professor in the Practice of
Conducting for Sacred Music at Notre Dame. Doerries serves as the Artistic Director of the Notre
Dame Children's Choir, Children’s Organ Training Program, and the Sacred Music Academy, the
community engagement arm of Sacred Music at Notre Dame.
With the Notre Dame Children's Choir, Doerries recorded five albums: O Emmanuel, released in the
fall of 2016, debuted at #1 on Billboard's Chart of Traditional Classical Music; O Day of Peace, released
in the spring of 2017; Arturo Sandoval’s Christmas at Notre Dame a collaboration with 10-time
GRAMMY winner and jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval; Magnificat: Evening Prayer with the Notre
Dame Children’s Choir, a collection of commissioned Vespers and Evensong liturgies, and A Ceremony
of Carols for Christmas 2021.
Doerries is the co-recipient of a $1.6 million Lilly Endowment Grant for sacred music and a $500,000
Presidential Circle Award that supports the Sacred Music Academy, Notre Dame Children’s Choir,
children’s Organ Training Program, and graduate studies in Sacred Music at Notre Dame. He was
recognized by the Chamber of Commerce of the City of South Bend for his work at the University and
in the community with the Notre Dame Children’s Choir and inducted into the 2019 class of 40 Under
40 leaders in the region.
A signature academic program, the Father Hesburgh Lecture Series was inspired by Father Hesburgh’s
example of lifelong learning and is being sponsored by the Notre Dame Club of Mohawk Valley and
the Notre Dame Alumni Association.
The event is free and open to the public. It will be held at the Irish Cultural Center of the Mohawk
Valley, 623 Columbia St, Utica, NY. The Irish Cultural Center and the H.A.R.P. Museum are wheelchair
accessible and open to all. Please visit https://bit.ly/3rO9ANp to register for this event or leave a message at the ICC 315-733-4228 Extension 6.