Dominic joined Padre Serra Parish while looking for a strong Youth Ministry, especially for his two boys – teens at that time. He has been the director of liturgy and music at Padre Serra Parish since 1999, and he is most proud of the choirs we have built over the years.
Dominic lives in Ventura County with his wife; they have a sweet Golden Retriever named Chloe. His most significant motivations for working at Padre Serra Parish are:
He is the oldest of five, followed by three sisters and a brother. His parents were both from Los Angeles. During his childhood and youth, he attended school in Thousand Oaks, CA., and church at St. Paschal’s and St. Raymond’s, where he participated in the Music ministry.
He was a tenor in the Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC). Also, as an accomplished composer, arranger, and pianist, Dominic occasionally served as an accompanist for Legacy, a Los Angeles-based chorus. In addition, his singing, arranging, playing, conducting, and contracting have been featured on a number of recordings for OCP. Dominic was part of a small select chorus from the LAMC that sang for the gala dedication of Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and which, previously, had given the U.S. premiere of John Adams’ opera El Nino, both in Los Angeles and in New York, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Dominic speaks a little German. He graduated from Loyola Marymount University (B.A. in Choral Conducting and Piano), where he developed a great passion for musicianship and musicality under his teacher, mentor, and friend, Paul Salamunovich. While at LMU, Dominic became acquainted with Bob Hurd, a prolific composer of liturgical music, and worked closely with Bob as part of the small vocal ensemble Anawim. Dominic earned his master’s in choral conducting from California State University in Fullerton. He was an auditor/participant in the conductor’s master class with Helmuth Rilling at the 1993 Oregon Bach Festival in Eugene.
Dominic admires St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta for her love for and service to the poor and St. Maximilian Kolbe for heroically sacrificing his life for a fellow concentration camp inmate for the love of God.