Episode 3: In Our Era of Loss, Imbalance, and Malaise, Bach's Music Recenters, Restores, and Heals

Photo credits: State University of New York

Fr. Sean Duggan, OSB, knew as a teen that he wanted to find a way to combine his love of music with his call to a religious life. He ultimately found that combination by joining the community of Benedictine Monks at St. Joseph Abbey in Covington, Louisiana, where liturgy and music thrive. Fr. Duggan sees music, like the other arts, as an opportunity to approach God through beauty, and though he has mastered the work of countless composers, he's drawn time and again to Johann Sebastian Bach.

For Fr. Duggan, Bach's music is endlessly infectious and playful, intellectually stimulating, and always interesting. He finds balance in Bach, who doesn't point to himself in his artistry, but points to something higher and transcendent. Sean thinks Bach, more popular today than ever before, reminds us of the godliness that resides in humanity—the ability of humans, like God, to create spiritual beauty—even in our era of loss, imbalance, and malaise. In so doing, Bach's music re-centers, restores balance, and heals.

Sean Brett Duggan was born in Jersey City. Piano lessons for Sean started at age 10 with the local church organist. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance at Loyola University in New Orleans and his Master of Fine Arts degree at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in 1979. For three years he was the Pittsburgh Opera Company’s pianist and assistant chorus master. He also taught piano at Carnegie Mellon and was a member of the Carnegie Mellon Piano Trio.

Sean left Pittsburgh to enter the Benedictine order at St. Joseph Abbey near Covington, Louisiana, in 1982 he graduated with a Master of Arts degree in Theology from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1988.

In September 1983, Sean won first prize in the Johann Sebastian Bach International Competition for pianists in Washington. In the “Bach Year” 1985, he gave complete performances of J.S. Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier in New Orleans, Pittsburgh, and Birmingham to critical acclaim. In 1991 he participated again in the Bach Competition in Washington; he was one of three first-place winners.

Sean was a visiting professor of piano at Eastman School of Music, and member of the piano faculty at the University of Michigan. He is currently on the faculty at SUNY Fredonia.

Faculty recital in December of 2020.