Christopher Holman, DPhil
Director of Music
Assistant Professor of Music
Director of the Sacred Music Institute
Education
DPhil, University of Oxford
M.A., Schola Cantorum Basiliensis
M.M., University of Houston
B.M., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Research Interests
Historical musicology; medieval liturgical practice (esp. the Dominican Rite); historical performance practice
Profile
Dr. Christopher Holman joined the faculty in 2025 as Director of Music, Assistant Professor of Music, and Director of the Sacred Music Institute. He teaches coursework in sacred music, directs the Latin Schola—the seminary’s principal choir—and plays the monumental Pasi Opus 29 organ in daily liturgies. He also directs the Athenaeum Chorale in the Music & Liturgy Series and organizes the annual summer Sacred Music Institute Conference.
His teaching and research seek to revitalize the Roman Catholic Church’s rich liturgical heritage by integrating the treasury of sacred music into modern worship—not as performance or novelty, but an element inextricably and consistently woven into the fabric of the liturgy.
Equally active as a scholar and performer, Dr. Holman has lectured at leading institutions, including the University of Oxford, the Université Sorbonne and Trinity College Dublin, and presents regularly at major internationally conferences. Since winning the Albert Schweitzer Organ Competition, he has performed in esteemed venues worldwide, such as St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Cathedral in London, the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, and the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame University. His performances have been broadcast by BBC Radio 3, German national television and Swiss National Radio and Television. He has also curated interdisciplinary projects on sacred music and cultural heritage in collaboration with the UNESCO World Heritage Center, Shakespearean actors from London’s West End and prominent museums of historical instrument across Europe.
Selected Publications
“Bach Performance Practice in the French Romantic Organ School” (dissertation, University of Oxford).
“Swiss Renaissance Keyboard Ornamentation.” Keyboard Perspectives 12 (2020): 1–19.
“Rhythm and Metre in French Classical Plainchant.” Early Music 45, Issue 4 (2017): 657–664.
Selected Recordings
Boulder Bach Festival. Boyce, Virginia: Sono Luminus, 2022.
Masters in this Hall: Carols Ancient and Modern. Choir of Exeter College, Oxford (director). Wolverhampton: Chorum Records, 2021.
Bach and His Teachers. New Jersey: HDTT, 2018.
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