The campus community welcomes Eric Bermani as the new director of the Saint Anselm College Choir.

Bermani is a native of Swampscott, MA, where his passion for music began at age 6. After years of attending the 4 p.m. mass with his mother, he was introduced to the organist, Dorothy Stemniski at age 12. Stemniski, unlike many territorial musicians, took him under her wing.

“She never viewed me as a threat,” he says. “She was kind to me and took time for me.” Still, thirty years later, Stemniski remains Bermani’s mentor.

Bermani received his B.M. at the Boston Conservatory of Music in organ performance and later received his M.A. from Saint Joseph College in Church Music and Liturgy. In his sparse free time, he continues to pursue a Th. D. in liturgical praxis and church music at BU School of Theology.

In 2008, Bermani was named music director for the Diocese of Manchester and Director of Music and Organist at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph.

Within the Cathedral, Bermani founded Ensemble Ex-Cathedra, a professional vocal ensemble of ten canters. Annually, they perform a winter concert, “Christmas at the Cathedral,” in which they have performed Handel’s “Messiah” for five years.

This year, the Saint Joseph’s choir has been offered an opportunity unlike any other: they have been invited to perform with the Sistine Chapel Choir in Rome with 250 other US choristers on Nov. 20. With this group, Bermani will be one of many blessed choristers singing to present the closing of the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy.

Bermani is also a part of the Young Organist Collaborative based in Portsmouth, NH. This grassroots program is an outreach from Saint John’s Episcopal Church to address the organist shortage.

Bermani made his debut at Saint Anselm College in 2015, when he began the position of Adjunct Professor of Organ.

All of the work that he does does not amount to a job for Bermani, however; it is a vocation. He says, “I am so blessed to run into young musicians in my work. I am able to try to pass forward what was given to me thirty years ago.”

In his new role as the Saint Anselm College choir director, Bermani is very impressed with the student performers with which he works.

“The students have been nothing short of amazing. They are kind, considerate, eager to work, and open to new things,” he says.

As for his plans for the choir, they are twofold: “My pastoral experience has called me to respect and cultivate the talents that are there, maintaining practices and traditions, while also building them to the highest extent that they can possibly go.”

In the spring, the choir will be celebrating 30 years since its founding by Fr. Bede Camera, O.S.B., in 1987. Bermani hopes to present this as a “thank you” to Fr. Bede for his vision and service, inviting alumni back to the Hilltop to perform, and presenting Fr. Bede as director emeritus.

“Two months ago, I was not expecting to be here at all,” he reflects. “But I believe that God leads us in mysterious ways that we cannot always understand but that we must trust. By means of prayer, discovery, and contemplation I was led here.”