Sacred Music Staff
Nicholas Mitchell Garcia is a native of Covington, Virginia. A recent graduate of the University of Notre Dame du Lac in South Bend, IN, Garcia earned a Master of Sacred Music degree with a concentration in pipe organ performance with Dr. Craig Cramer. Garcia also holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance from Westminster Choir College in 2012 where he studied with Alan Morrison. During his time at Westminster, he was awarded an annual scholarship in Organ Performance Excellence. Over the course of his training, Garcia has had the privilege of studying with many leaders in the field of music and liturgics including: Dr. James Jordan, Dr. Joe Miller, Dr. Stefan Young, a student of the celebrated pedagogue Nadia Boulanger, Dr. Peter Jeffery, Dr. Margot Fassler, Dr. Carmen Helena Téllez, and Dr. Maxwell Johnson.
As a member of the famed Westminster Symphonic Choir, Garcia performed Johannes Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem at Verizon Hall in Philadelphia, under the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin with the Philadelphia Orchestra. With the Westminster Symphonic Choir, he also had the honor of performing Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in Carnegie Hall with the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle. While at Notre Dame, Garcia was a member of the Basilica Schola Cantorum, and the Basilica Liturgical Choir. During his time with the Liturgical Choir, he worked as a Graduate Assistant, serving as an accompanist and conductor, as well as one of the organists for the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame. He helped to develop and was the initial instructor of the Notre Dame Children’s Choir Organ Training Program. Garcia was instrumental in the installation of the new Paul Fritts organ at Moreau Seminary where he served as Organist.
An active recitalist, Garcia has performed in churches around the country including Gloria Dei Lutheran in South Bend, Indiana, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Seattle, Washington, Kirk in the Hills Presbyterian Church in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Greene Memorial United Methodist Church in Roanoke, Virginia, Moreau Seminary Fritts Dedication Recital in Notre Dame, Indiana, and Verizon Hall’s Organ Day at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Garcia’s performances have been heard on the nationally-Syndicated program “Pipedreams” (American Public Radio).
