Michael Accurso

Biography

Michael Accurso is the Director of Music and Liturgy at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta. Prior to coming to Atlanta, Michael was the Director of Music for the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh and Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, during which he directed the music for the historic dedication of the Cathedral and oversaw the installation of the C.B. Fisk, Opus 147 pipe organ, which has been acclaimed as one of the finest pipe organs in the United States.

As a conductor, Mike has prepared choruses for performances by the South Bend Symphony and has conducted performances across the U.S. and Canada, Rome, and at the International Festival of Sacred Music in Quito, Ecuador. As a lecturer, he has given symposiums on sacred music at the University of Notre Dame, Temple University, and gave the keynote lecture on Berlioz’s Requiem for the North Carolina Master Chorale’s 75th anniversary performance with the North Carolina Symphony.

Among his creative projects, Mike is a composer and has published the only complete lectionary collection of psalm settings for Catholic use. Currently, he is arranging the Mozart Requiem for chamber orchestra and chorus.

Mike earned the Bachelor of Music degree from Moravian University and was awarded the Master of Sacred Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Notre Dame, where he studied under Carmen Helena Tellez and Nancy Menk. His dissertation on the Mozart arrangement of Handel’s Messiah was nominated for the prestigious Julius Herford prize of the American Choral Directors Association.

Mike and his wife Brenda have three children.