Francesco Alleruzzo has been the Director of Music at St. Mel for more than a decade. After receiving his Bachelor of Music (BM) degree from Mount St Mary's College (emphasis in Liturgical Music), he attended USC for a Master of Music (MM) degree in Choral Music and then spent time working toward a second Master's degree in Orchestral Conducting. In addition to conducting, his major areas of study were Voice, Organ, and Piano. He spent time in Siena, Italy studying Conducting and Voice at the Accademia Musicale Chiginia. He also performed and conducted music from the Oratorio, Operatic, and Orchestral repertoire. He is quite comfortable in all styles of music including chant, Renaissance polyphony and motets, Baroque and Classic masses of Bach, Mozart, Haydn, and Schubert, and 19th and 20th century choral works. He is equally at home with contemporary styles of liturgical music that include jazz, gospel, American folk, ethnic, and music from the praise and worship tradition.Prior to joining St. Mel, he served as Director of Liturgy for the Diocese of Phoenix and actively led workshops, retreats and classes in both Spanish and English. While in Phoenix, he was an active member of the Liturgical Commission, whose function was to continually work toward liturgical renewal, ongoing formation and catechesis. He also conducted the Diocesan Chorale and Cathedral Choirs as they performed in masses and concerts throughout the region.
Francesco describes his role at St. Mel "to SUPPORT and EMPOWER all of our cantors, choirs, and instrumentalists to sing and play their best, keeping their focus on the liturgy." He also believes that the role of music in the liturgy is to INSPIRE, ENLIGHTEN, and ENCOURAGE everyone, including the assembly, to lift their HEARTS and SOULS, and most especially their VOICES, in praise and thanksgiving as ONE VOICE, ONE BODY, ONE FAMILY of God.
