Lourdes

Born in Havana, Cuba, Lourdes came to the United States at age five. She studied jazz piano at Miami-Dade Community College with Sanford Gold, music composition with Dr. Dennis Kam and classical piano with Dr. Rosalina Sackstein at the University of Miami, where she met her husband Michael, who was working on a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Double Bass and playing with the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra. Lourdes was Music Director at Mother of Christ Catholic Church from 1986 until November 19, 2005, when she became music director at St. Vincent de Paul Church in NW Arkansas where she now lives with her family.

On Thursday, April 17, 2008, Lourdes' song Bienaventurados was performed for the Pope Benedict XVI's mass at National Stadium in Washington (see article below). On Wednesday, June 4, 2008, her “Psalm 37: The Humble Shall Inherit the Earth,” wrote and dedicated to our new Bishop Taylor, was performed at his installation service in Little Rock (see article below). Lourdes and Mike have accompanied in concerts and workshops around the country and also taught liturgical music at the Familia Sagrada mission in Domincan Republic

Lourdes has an article on the psalms published at the web site of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. (An NPM article by Michael about playing bass in church also is online, as is an article about the Dominican experience.)

Many of Lourdes' liturgical compositions are published by Oregon Catholic Press, who also produced a CD of some of them entitled De La Cruz a la Gloria featuring Lourdes and Michael playing piano and bass. Lourdes has also arranged piano scores for publications of World Library and OCP.

Click here for info on choosing Seasonal Psalms, here for upcoming hymns.