Cathy Mindrum, RiteSong’s lead vocalist, has been a cantor at St. Thomas Aquinas, the Catholic Center at Purdue University, since 1995. She currently serves as a cantor and co-leader at the 9:00a Mass. Cathy sang lead vocals on “Out of Darkness” on St. Tom’s first CD, Live in the Light, and on “So We Will Worship” on St. Tom’s third CD, Christ In Me Arise. She was also featured in A Boiler Catholic Christmas, the St. Tom’s...
Music is Ted’s passion. Ted has studied piano since, oh, about the same age that he began walking. A native of West Lafayette, Ted grew up in Purdue’s backyard. He has won numerous awards and piano competitions including the Keller Competition in 2000 when he performed with the Lafayette Symphony. In Washington, D.C, Ted made his Kennedy Center debut in 2010 with the National Memorial Day Choral Festival, accompanying Anthony Kearns, the...
In asking what John wanted to play, his fourth grade orchestra teacher said, “We don’t have any violins left. Would you like to learn the viola?” “OK,” John replied. “But what’s a viola?” Thus began John’s long association with the violin family’s least recognized instrument. (A viola looks like a violin, but it’s slightly larger and tuned a fifth lower. Congregations usually assume John plays violin.) After performing in the South...
Jon-Paul Hurt is one of RiteSong’s lead pianists. JP started playing piano at age 5 and drums at age 11. He learned bass guitar and acoustic guitar while earning a BA in music theory (with piano as his principle instrument) at the University of Notre Dame. He was a percussionist in Notre Dame’s marching band for four years. (In fact, if you look closely, you can spot JP in two scenes in the movie “Rudy”!) As percussionist for the Notre Dame Folk...
Karen began violin at age eleven for the opportunity to play in the local string orchestra. Studying in the preparatory music program at DePaul University gave her a good music foundation. During her teen years, she soloed with the Metropolitan Youth Symphony and for the Chicago Chamber Orchestra’s Children’s concerts. Karen has a music degree from Indiana University and played with Chicago Civic orchestra during college summers. She is a member of...
Music has been an important part of Jerrod’s life since he began playing the piano as a child. Through middle and high school, he continued with piano, playing in jazz bands and accompanying both vocal and instrumental students in district and state solo and ensemble competitions. Jerrod also competed in both levels himself, earning gold ratings several times. In addition, Jerrod also began playing clarinet. During his high school career, he earned...
Betsy Warnemuende, RiteSong’s cellist, is another school orchestra success story, having first taken up the cello in the fourth grade. As her musical skills progressed, Betsy joined the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra. While earning BS and MS degrees as well as a PhD, Betsy performed in the Platteville (Wisconsin) Community Symphony Orchestra, the Bozeman (Montana) Symphony Orchestra, and the Iowa State...
The one thing we heard over and over again from the guests – how incredible the music was.
Nora & Christian, married July 2, 2005When Nora and Christian announced their engagement in the summer of 2004, one of Nora’s first calls was to her cousin John – who has been a liturgical musician since 1980. Fellow musicians Katherine, Ted, JP, and Beth enthusiastically accepted John’s invitation to play the wedding – despite its being a couple hundred miles away. The wedding day was magical! We were so elated to have been a small part of their day that we wanted to play together more frequently outside of weekly Sunday services. RiteSong was born.
Learn MorePlease e-mail info@ritesong.com. During 2016, we anticipate being able to share our love of music at one wedding each month. Please contact us soon!
Learn More