About Us

Musica Sacra
Since 1991, Musica Sacra (Latin for “Sacred Music”) has performed sacred masterworks for chorus, vocal soloists and orchestra, with repertoire ranging from the Renaissance to the present. Musica Sacra currently performs four concerts with orchestra each year at St. Francis Xavier Church, with additional appearances throughout the Kansas City community, including Powell Gardens, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City and the Bachathon at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral. Director Timothy L. McDonald augments these performances with Live Program Notes.

Musica Sacra is an ensemble-in-residence at Rockhurst University and is presented under the auspices of The Center for Arts and Letters, an alliance of the performing groups and programs associated with Rockhurst. The chorus has recorded three compact discs.  Two of them, “Christmas in Carol and Song” and Mozart, Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 are available for purchase.

Timothy L. McDonald
For more than 30 years, Timothy L. McDonald has served as a choral and orchestral conductor, educator and author. He directed choirs at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ and Lafayette College in Easton, PA. In 1991, McDonald became the Director of Music at Rockhurst University. He currently serves as Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Music. McDonald served as Chair of the school’s Department of Communication and Fine Arts, Chair of the Division  of  Humanities, and Chair of the Faculty Senate and Assembly.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Rutgers University, McDonald holds a doctorate and master's degree in music and a bachelor's degree in economics.  Rockhurst University granted him awards for distinguished service and for scholarship. The Kansas City Musical Club selected him for its 2006 Award for “outstanding contributions to the cultural life of Kansas City. “

In addition to a book published by the American Institute of Musicology and articles in Choral Journal and elsewhere, McDonald writes regularly for The Kansas City Star. He has also written for newspapers in Pennsylvania and Kansas.

For years, he was heard regularly on KXTR, Kansas City’s classical radio station, and has appeared on KCUR-FM on “Up to Date” and the “Walt Bodine Show.” He appeared onstage as “Music Host” for two Kansas City Symphony “Classics Uncorked” concerts and has given pre-concert lectures at the Carlsen Center of Johnson County Community College and Village Presbyterian Church.  McDonald is choir director at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Overland Park and is a published author and presenter on Catholic church music. He lives in Overland Park with his wife, Adrienne, and daughters, Noelle and Melanie.