Director of Music

Having completed a BA in Religious Studies from St. Michael’s College in Burlington, VT, Steven C. Warner (he/him/his) moved his young family to the University of Notre Dame while he pursued his MA in Liturgical Studies. Steve joined the Campus Ministry staff in 1979, where he founded the Notre Dame Folk Choir, an internationally-renowned ensemble he directed for 35 years. During this time, he also composed extensively: the choral series “Songs of the Notre Dame Folk Choir” began in 1990, eventually growing to nearly 100 octavos in collaboration with long-time colleague Karen Schneider Kirner, the Abbey of Gethsemani, and others. The Mass of Charity and Love and Mass for Our Lady, along with many other Warner compositions, appear in hymnals around the English-speaking world.

In 2016 Steve relocated to St. John Henry Newman’s University Church in Dublin, Ireland. There he founded the Newman Vocare Ensemble, which released their first album with GIA Publications in 2020. He and his wife, Michele, retired to Black Mountain in 2021 and are thrilled to be closer to his three grown children (Nathan, Joshua, and Jessica) and two grandchildren.