Bruce E. Ludwick, Jr.

Bruce E. Ludwick, Jr. is Director of Music and Organist at the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Birmingham, Alabama. Mr. Ludwick manages a liturgical music program composed of the semi-professional Cathedral Choir, Childrens’ Schola Cantorum, and cantor corps.  He organizes, plans, and provides music for all parish liturgies. He was formerly Director of Music and Organist at St. Gabriel the Archangel Church in St. Louis, Missouri.  While in Austin, Texas, he was organist at St. Mary Cathedral for the Extraordinary Form Mass and evening Mass (featuring classical guitar and organ).  Ludwick has served Roman Catholic, Disciples of Christ, Episcopalian, and Church of the Brethren congregations in Missouri, Texas, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, and has concertized in these states as well. He was responsible for the installation of Noack Organ Company Op. 164, the Anna Catharine Grace Memorial Pipe Organ, one of the country’s preeminent instruments in the French style of the 18th-20th Century.

Ludwick earned the Master of Music in Organ Performance with Emphasis in Sacred Music at the University of Texas at Austin where he studied with the late Gerre Hancock, Organist and Master of the Choristers Emeritus, St. Thomas Church, 5th Avenue. He earned the Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance and Music Education from West Virginia University as a student of William Haller. Other organ study was with the late David Craighead and Alan Lewis; his conducting study was with Kathleen Shannon.

Ludwick was faculty for the 2021 CMAA Sacred Music Colloquium (Organ Track), for the 2011 and 2013 Musica Sacra St. Louis conferences, and served as conference organist for the same gathering in 2012.  He was organist for the 2011 priestly ordinations of the Archdiocese of St. Louis at the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis and the 2011 “Christmas at the Cathedral” concert series. In 2015, he was organist for the Faure Requiem at the CMAA Colloquium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was invited back for a solo recital in 2019 on the von Beckerath organ. He is a presenter from time to time at academic conferences, as well, focused on supporting and increasing standards of Catholic liturgical music programs.

Ludwick served as Sub-Dean of the Birmingham Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and in similar roles for the St. Louis chapter. He maintains membership in the Organ Historical Society, of which he was an E. Power Biggs Fellow in 2001, and the Church Music Association of America, among other professional affiliations. Ludwick is a founding member of the early music choral group Highland Consort, and maintains a special interest in Gregorian chant, early music, and children’s music for the Catholic liturgy.  A native West Virginian, he lives in Birmingham with his wife, soprano Erin (Montalto) Ludwick, and sons, Joseph, Peter, Thomas, and Maximilian (Max).

James McGalliard

James McGalliard is the Assistant Organist at the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Birmingham, Alabama. Since the age of 15, James has held pianist and organist positions for several Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches in central and west Alabama,  most recently as organist at Calvary Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa, where he served for three years before joining the Cathedral staff. During the academic year, McGalliard occasionally volunteers with the Bama Catholic student music ministry at St. Francis of Assisi University Parish in Tuscaloosa. James also enjoys giving piano and organ recitals.

A composer, James has written many compositions for orchestra, choir, chamber ensembles, organ, and saxophone. His style is defined by expressive melodies anddramatically shifting textures, with a rich and unique harmonic language that springs from contrapuntal experimentation. James enjoys improvising at the organ, a natural outgrowth of his passion for composition.

In May 2024, McGalliard earned his undergraduate composition degree at the University of Alabama. While a student, he studied composition with Tyler Walker, Timothy Gibbons, and Colin Kemper; organ with Faythe Freese; and jazz piano with Matt Wiley. James also studied saxophone with Jon Noffsinger.

McGalliard lives in Tuscaloosa, where he enjoys teaching classical and jazz piano lessons to a handful of students from the Tuscaloosa and Northport area.

Daniel Renna

Daniel Renna is Organ Scholar at the Cathedral of Saint Paul in Birmingham, Alabama. He grew up in a musical family, and took piano lessons with Nadya Bogdan and organ (with Derek Kluz) at age 16. Renna sang in the Birmingham Boys Choir for six years. Daniel will attend Samford University in Fall 2024 to study Music Composition and Organ Performance as a student of Dr. Frederick Teardo.