Benton Schmidt

Benton schmidt is thrilled to join the Newman Center as the Director of Music. A North Dakota native, he recieved his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at NDSU, a Master of Sacred Music from the University of Notre Dame, and is currently completing a Doctorate of Music at the Universuity of Kansas. As an organist, Benton particularly enjoys liturgical music of seventeenth-century France, early Baroque Lutheran music from Germany, and modern works of Messiaen and Olivier Latry. He is passionate about singing, studying, and teaching chant in its multiplicity of forms, from medieval manuscripts to modern vernacular pieces. Benton's academic interests include the liturgical theology of Joseph Cardinal Razinger, musical aesthetics, and ancient Greek classics.