Adam Schwend, bass, has dedicated his career and his life to the music of the Catholic Church, primarily in the fostering and renewal of Gregorian Chant and Sacred Polyphony in the Roman Rite. An internationally recognized baritone soloist, organist and conductor, Adam studied vocal performance at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon and sacred music and pastoral/liturgical theology at St. Joseph College in Standish, Maine.
Adam’s opera career has spanned such performances as La Serva Padrona (Uberto), Mikado ( Koko and Nanki-Poo), Trouble in Tahiti (Sam) and the world premier performance of The Other Wise Man (Artaban). In musical theater, Mr. Schwend has performed The Mystery of Edwin Drood (John Jasper), The Fantasticks (Matt), Hello Dolly! (Cornelius Hackl), Li'l Abner (Abner), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (J.B. Biggley), Little Shop of Horrors (Mushnik) and has directed and conducted many other shows.
As a baritone soloist, Adam has performed such works as Messiah by G.F. Handel, Requiem by W.A. Mozart, Messa di Gloria by Giacomo Puccini, Requiem by Gabriel Faure, Five Mystical Songs by Ralph Vaughn Williams, The Seasons by Joseph Haydn, Mass in B Minor by J.S. Bach, Missa cum Jubilo by Maurice Durufle and The Crucifixion by John Stainer.
An accomplished choral musician, Adam has been a member of Cantores in Ecclesia, a choral ensemble dedicated to Sacred Polyphony and Gregorian Chant, Male Ensemble Northwest (MEN), a choir of professional male choral conductors in the Northwest, and Resonance Ensemble, the newest professional choral ensemble in Portland, Oregon. He has also served as guest organist at Our Lady of Victory Parish in Prague, Czech Republic, which houses the Little Infant of Prague.
Adam has worked or studied with some of the world's best conductors and performers, such as Richard Marlow, John Rutter, Jonathan Griffith, Scott Tuomi, Leonid Smetannikov and many others.
Also a noted scholar in liturgy and known liturgical theologian, Adam has served as Director of Worship for the Diocese of Sioux City, Iowa and has served as Master of Ceremonies for Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago, William Cardinal Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop John Vlazny, Archbishop of Portland, Archbishop Jerome Hanus, OSB, Archbishop of Dubuque, Bishop R. Walker Nickless, Bishop of Sioux City, and Bishop Kenneth Steiner, Auxiliary Bishop of Portland. He has also served on the faculty of the Diocesan Formation Institute of the Diocese of Sioux City and is a member of the Adoremus Society, the Church Music Association of America, and the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. In 2008, Adam was instituted into the Ministry of Acolyte by Bishop R. Walker Nickless.
