Like the “Second Spring” we’ve been seeing in church architecture, there is also something of a renewal of church music these days… and one of its bright lights is Chicago composer and conductor Kevin Allen. We are fortunate that he will return to the Mundelein Liturgical Institute’s Sacred Music Retreat in June of 2010 as schola director. His web site tells that he has “developed a unique reputation as a composer of church music for the Roman Rite” and that his “works, sacred and secular, have been performed in churches and concert halls throughout the United States and Europe.” Click the video below to enjoy a beautiful setting of “Desidero mi, Jesu” (“I desire, oh my Jesus, that you would refresh me on this, the food of angels”) sung by soloists from the Lincoln Chamber Chorale in Chicago, directed by Timothy Woods. Imagine hearing this during your communion meditation… then realizing it is new music. Sing a new song unto the Lord, indeed.