Musicians
Peter Latona
Peter Latona is Director of Music at the Basilica of the National Shrine. As an organ recitalist, he has performed across the USA and in Europe, has presented workshops on improvisation and released a recording, An Organ Pilgrimage (Raven), featuring all four pipe organs at the Basilica. As conductor of the Basilica’s Choir, he released six recordings of sacred choral music, presented concerts in the USA and abroad, and was featured on Public Radio International. Among more recent recording projects, John Paul II: A Celebration of Life and Faith, was recorded at Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, and combines spoken passages from the writings of the late pontiff with choral works highlighting the major themes of his pontificate. Active also as a composer, Dr Latona has several commissions to his credit and is published by Morningstar Music Publishers. These include Ego sum ostium, for chorus, orchestra and soprano solo, composed for the International Celebration of the Jubilee in Vatican City, My Hope Is Arisen, for chorus and orchestra, Fanfare-Introit and Procession on Da pacem for orchestra and chorus, composed for the National Convention of the Knights of Columbus and Missa Personent Hodie for chorus, double brass ensemble and percussion. Dr Latona was also commissioned to compose music for the visit of His Holiness Benedict XVI to Washington, D.C. and New York City in April of 2008.
Dr Latona is a graduate of Bucknell University (B. Mus.), the Yale School of Music (M. Mus.) and the Manhattan School of Music (D.M.A.), his teachers having included McNeil Robinson, Thomas Murray (organ) and Jean Langlais and Gerre Hancock (improvisation). He is a member of the Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians, the American Guild of Organists and is chair of the DCAGO Foundation.
Russell Weismann
Russell J. Weismann serves as the Associate Director of Music at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Russell holds a Master of Music from Yale University and a Bachelor of Music from Duquesne University in addition to completing postgraduate coursework at Carnegie-Mellon University and holding a certificate of study from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. His primary organ instructors were Martin Jean, John Walker, Ann Labounsky and Donald Wilkins. In addition to organ, Russell has studied harpsichord with Richard Rephann, Choral Conducting with Brady Allred and Jeffrey Douma, Improvisation with Jeffrey Brillhart, and is an active Carillonneur.
As an organist, Russell has twice been accepted to participate in the London Organ Summer Course and has offered recitals across the United States as well as in Europe and Africa. He was a featured performer at the 2004 American Guild of Organists Convention in Los Angeles and 2010 Organ Historical Society Convention in Pittsburgh. He has also been featured on American Public Media's Pipedreams. Russell serves on the board of membership development and chapter support for the American Guild of Organists and holds the Guild's Colleague and Service Playing certificates.
Russell's prior professional experience includes serving as Director of Music and Liturgy and Adjunct Professor of Sacred Music at Georgetown University, University Chapel Organist and Teaching Fellow at Yale University and Associate Music Director at Saint Paul Cathedral in Pittsburgh, PA.
Robert Grogan
Robert Grogan is Carillonneur and Organist Emeritus of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. A graduate of the University of Kansas (Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in organ performance), he continued his study at Washington National Cathedral (Fellow, College of Church Musicians) and The Catholic University of America (Doctor of Musical Arts, organ). He serves as Organ Department Advisor and teaches organ and organ literature on the faculty of the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music at CUA. As a member of the American Guild of Organists, he has served as dean of the District of Columbia chapter and as chair of the board of trustees of the D.C.AGO Foundation. A Carillonneur member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America, he was recipient of the University of California (Berkeley) Medal in 1983 “for distinguished service to the carillon.”
Dr. Grogan’s recordings on the organs and carillon of the Basilica include two CDs released on the Gothic Records label (In Dulci Jubilo and Times and Seasons), featuring the Gallery organ of the Basilica. His compositions for choir, organ and carillon have been published by E. C. Schirmer, H. W. Gray/Belwin Mills and the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA), and include Gabriel’s Message for choir and organ (2001) and Variations on ‘Morning Song”(included in The Washington Organ Rook).
