Nicholas Schefstad (BM ‘22) is a current sacred music student serving as organist, conductor, pianist, singer, and graduate assistant for the world-renowned University of Notre Dame Folk Choir. Nicholas serves alongside Grammy-award winning and Billboard chart-topping composer, conductor, jazz pianist, and director, Dr. J.J. Wright. 

The sixty-plus member Folk Choir is one of Notre Dame’s principal liturgical choirs, singing every Sunday during the academic year at the 12:00pm Mass in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Nicholas’s responsibilities every week include playing organ/conducting for Mass, leading full rehearsals, and helping choir members learn “The Passion”.  

“The Passion” is a newly composed (95-minute) musical ritualization and play drama of Jesus Christ’s Passion. Emerging from a collaborative process between students in The Notre Dame Folk Choir and professional artists, the piece combines Scripture drawn from all four Gospels with original poetry, all set to newly composed music and lyrics by the choir. The choir traveled to Jerusalem, Israel to record “The Passion” with Grammy-award winning professional audio engineers at the Jerusalem Music Center. The choir performed “The Passion” in prestigious concert halls throughout the United States in the spring of 2023. 

“This choir has uplifted me spiritually. The main purpose of our music is to glorify God and lead people to Him. Not many present-day university choirs can say that they sing and compose their own music on a regular basis to glorify God. In the words of Bach and other notable composers, Soli Deo gloria,” says Mr. Schefstad.

An Emmy Award nomination was recently given to The Grotto Network for their short documentary film on “The Passion”. The choir is currently composing an album based on the Resurrection of Christ to continue the Gospel narrative. 

To learn more about the choir, please visit the links below:

“The Passion” Album Purchase Link: https://bio.to/folk

The University of Notre Dame Folk Choir YouTube Page:
https://youtube.com/@NotreDameFolkChoir?si=x98NBNSHX2RKgSNE

Website: https://folkchoir.nd.edu