Warner, Steven C.
Steve Warner (B.A. Religious Studies, St. Michael's College; M.A., Liturgical Studies, University of Notre Dame); Founder and Director of the Notre Dame Folk Choir (1980-2016), founder of the Newman Vocare Ensemble and Associate Director of the Notre Dame-Newman Centre in Dublin, Ireland (2016-2021).
He joined ND’s Campus Ministry staff in 1979, continuing there for more than thirty-five years. By 2016 the Folk Choir, begun in 1980, had more than 60 singers and instrumentalists, their repertoire spanning all styles and languages.
"Songs of the Notre Dame Folk Choir," began with World Library Publications of Chicago, IL, in 1990, with about 100 octavos published. The Mass of Charity and Love and Mass for Our Lady became nationally published settings for the Eucharist. Other best selling compositions include Lead, Kindly Light; Set Your Heart on the Higher Gifts, All Will Be Well, The Lord’s Prayer, I Have Been Anointed, and O Mary of Promise.
The second choir he founded, the Newman Vocare Ensemble, released their first album with GIA Publications in 2020. Upon his departure from Ireland (in 2021), a former chorister stepped forward and created an endowment in the liturgical arts for Newman’s University Church, naming it after Steve. Diocesan workshops, pilgrimages, and continued compositional projects are all part of his “retirement.”