Sebastián Modarelli
Sebastián Modarelli studied at the National Conservatory of Music in his native Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 1998 he was awarded the highest prize at the National Composers’ Competition Promociones Musicales and, a year later, he won the First Prize in the triennial Composers’ Contest of the National Academy of Arts in Argentina. He held the position of Organist and Music Professor at the Seminary of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, guided by then Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (now Pope Francis). In 2005 Modarelli moved to Rochester, Minnesota after being offered the position of Music Director and Organist at St. John the Evangelist Church. Some of his noteworthy latest premieres include Born in Buenos Aires, commissioned and premiered by the Metro Chamber Orchestra in New York City in 2010, and performed later in its full version by the Rochester Symphony Orchestra in 2012, Variations on Picardy for Oboe and Organ, dedicated to renowned organist Jeff Davis in 2011, William Shakespeare for Choir and Organ, commissioned by the Albert Lea Cantori and the Duet for Cello and Organ, premiered by the Svyati Duo (UK) in 2012. In November 2013, the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers, under the direction of Philip Brunelle, premiered What I Have Seen and Heard, an hour long work entirely based on St. John’s Gospel, and commissioned on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Church of St. John the Evangelist (Rochester, MN).
