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Holy Cross - St. John the Baptist
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  • Home
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  • Liturgy
      • Mass Times
      • Devotions
      • The Sacraments
  • Ministries & Outreach
    • Ministries & Outreach
      • Food Pantries
      • Soup Kitchen
      • Recovery Groups
      • LAMP
      • Young Adult Community
    • Justice, Peace, Integrity of Creation
      • JPIC Committee
      • Care for Creation
      • Immigration
    • Fraternities, Societies, Devotions
      • Secular Franciscans
      • Charismatic Prayer Group
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      • Padre Pio Devotion
      • 2,000 Hail Marys
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    • Music Ministry
      • Getting Involved
      • Music Staff
      • Holy Cross Pipe Organ
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  • Meet our Ministers of Music
    Meet our Ministers of Music
    • Director of Music & Liturgy

       

      Thomas DeFrancesco administers the music ministry program, directs the volunteer choir, professional schola, and has curated the restoration of the historic Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ at the Holy Cross worship site. Thomas has previously served the parishes of St. Peter’s, St. John’s, Our Lady of Good Counsel, and has performed in many of the prominent churches of New York City including Trinity Wall Street, St. Ignatius Loyola, The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Thomas serves on the board of directors of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NPM) of New York, is an active member of The American Guild of Organists, and plays over 250 masses each year. As a collaborative musician, his career has led him to perform at Birdland, The Metropolitan Room, Joe’s Pub at the Public Theatre, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, and in several broadway orchestras. Thomas has had the privilege of arranging and performing music with the cast of Sesame Street and their annual outreach programs with Project Sunshine, and serves on the music staff at The Third Street Music School Settlement. Thomas graduated from Wagner College where he studied performance and arts administration, and has completed advanced choral studies through The Hartt School of Music and Westminster Choir College. 

       

    • Associate Organist


      Vincent Mirandi has served as a church organist and choir director for 35 years. Growing up in Whippany, NJ, not far from New York City, his grandmother often brought him to visit Radio City Music Hall and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Hearing the organ roar through these buildings was the highlight of these trips. Enthralled and eager to learn how to play the organ, he began lessons at age 11. After only a year he was accompanying his school choirs and playing in the jazz band. His career as a professional musician started upon entering high school, playing Masses at St. Simon the Apostle in Greenpond, NJ and entertaining on piano at a restaurant in the evenings. Also during high school, he acquired a small pipe organ, rebuilt it, and installed it in his home. Initially attending college at Cooper Union to study art and design, his continued work as church musician led him to change his course of study. Mr. Mirandi eventually went to Colorado State University to major in organ performance. He has since served as an organist, choir director, and handbell conductor for a variety of denominations, and even as a pipe organ technician. Mr. Mirandi has long been an active member of the American Theatre Organ Society, serving as an officer in local chapters, a national convention organizer, and as national treasurer. 

  • Cantors

    •  

      Kathleen Kilbane leads the Spanish music ministry at Holy Cross. She has sung in East Coast churches from South Carolina to Massachusetts as well as in Italy and in her native Ohio.  In New York City, she has served as cantor at masses in many churches, including St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  After performing in musical theater and light opera throughout the Northeast, Kathleen turned her focus to music education. She holds certifications in Orff (Boston University) and Kodály (New York University) methods in addition to degrees from Smith College (B.A,) and New England Conservatory (M.M.).  She teaches music and Catholic religion at The Caedmon School.

       

    •   

       

      Janet Natale is a New Jersey native, and a Cantor who serves in the (Arch)dioceses of Newark, New York and Paterson. Janet completed her musical training at the Hartt School of Music, of the University of Hartford. Ms. Natale is an active clinician and has led workshops for the (Arch)dioceses of Newark, New York, Paterson, Metuchen, Richmond and Arlington Janet previously served as Director of Music Ministries and Cantor at Saint James the Apostle Church in Springfield, NJ for more than 20 years, responsible for two Adult Choirs, one High School Choir, and three choirs of Middle School and Elementary age children that enriched the congregational singing. Following her ministry at Saint James the Apostle, Ms. Natale served as the Parish Catechetical Leader in a merged parish in the Archdiocese of Newark. Locally, Ms. Natale serves on the Board of Directors of the Newark Chapter of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. Nationally, she served separate terms as a member of the Choir Directors Standing Committee and board member of the Director of Music Ministry Division of NPM. She was the NY/NJ regional coordinator of the American Federation of Pueri Cantores New York Festival, the National student choral organization of the Catholic Church. Prolific in concert and solo appearances, Ms. Natale’s most recent performances include John Rutter’s Magnificat, at Maryknoll Society Center in Ossining, NY and with Merynda Adams, a Voice and Harp Recital at the Wednesdays at Noon Recital Series, at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

    •  

      Jerrod Sanders is a native of North Carolina. He received a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. After doing graduate studies in Music Therapy at New York University, he began his career as a solo artist. He has sung in performances of Bach’s Hekules auf dem Scheideweg and the Koffee Kantate at Teatro Communale in Florence, Italy; the Mozart Requiem at the Iglesia de la Conception in Marbella, Spain and Bach’s Magnificat in D at Parroquia de Santa Cruz in Madrid. Mr. Sanders has toured nationally and internationally in the opera Porgy and Bess with the Houston Grand Opera and Living Arts - New York. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in Porgy and Bess in the role of Mingo.

    •  

      Joe Simmons is a nationally recognized leader in the cantor ministry as a clinician, convention speaker, and author. In addition to his ministry at Holy Cross-Saint John the Baptist, he serves as director of music and cantor for The Sunday Mass, a national broadcast of the Passionist Community on Freeform TV(formerly ABC Family) and The Sunday Mass. In 2008, he was honored to serve as psalmist for the papal Mass in Yankee Stadium during Pope Benedict XVI’s pastoral visit to the United States. His recordings of inspirational music, Sudden Waves and Singing Out, are widely used in healing ministries.



    • Kaitlin Stark is an active performer, music educator, and children's theatre director originally from Alpena, Michigan. She currently serves as the chair of the vocal department at Third Street Music School Settlement.  Kaitlin received her undergraduate degree in Choral Music Education from Western Michigan University, and obtained a Masters in Musical Theatre Performance from Oklahoma City University.  Kaitlin has performed in the Tri-State area, as well as in the Festival International Chihuahua in Mexico, with the New York City children's theatre company, The Paper Bag Players. Her other passions include teaching musical theatre as she has recently directed and choreographed "Annie,” “The Wizard of Oz," "Honk!" and "Into the Woods" for Oklahoma Children's Theatre of Oklahoma City. Her favorite opera and musical theatre roles performed include Papagena in "The Magic Flute," Monica in "The Medium," and Phoebe in the original children's musical, "The Sugar Plum Fairy."

    •  

       

      Kathryn Zimmer, serves as a cantor and contemporary folk mass ensemble leader at Holy Cross/St. John the Baptist Catholic Church and St. Columba/Guardian Angel Catholic Church in New York City.  Kathryn is a versatile musician and performer, running the gamut from classical lyric soprano to folk/pop singer-songwriter and bandleader.  She has released several recordings of her folk/pop compositions to critical acclaim, being named the "latter day Joan Baez" by Rock n' Reel magazine.  Her albums are sold at Rough Trade Records in Brooklyn and are also available anywhere online; for more info, please visit her website. Kathryn obtained a Master of Music degree in Voice from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Vocal Performance at the University of Nebraska. She is proud to be the organizer of the annual benefit concert for the Bread of Life Food Pantry (held since 2011).

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