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The American conductor, organist, church musician and composer, Michael D. Costello, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sacred Music from Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina, where he studied Sacred Music with Paul D. Weber and Florence Jowers. In 1999 he won the Ruth and Paul Manz award and won the Region IV Young Organists Competition of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) in the same year. He went on to perform during the AGO's 2000 national convention in Seattle, Washington. A portion of that program aired on National Public Radio's Pipe Dreams. Michael and his wife graduated in 2006 from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary with Master of Divinity degrees, where he also served for two years on the adjunct faculty in music and liturgy. He was ordained at the South Carolina Synod Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in May 2006.
A pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Michael D. Costello has served congregations in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and South Carolina as a church musician; and as Assistant Pastor and Director of Music at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Columbia, South Carolina for two years. Since 2008, he serves as the Cantor at Grace Lutheran Church and School in River Forest, Illinois, where he directs choirs, serves as principal organist, and directs Grace Lutheran Church: Bach Cantata Series. In 2014, he was also appointed Artistic Director of Chicago Choral Artists.
Michael D. Costello is known best for his creative hymn improvisations and sensitive service playing, He is a composer of music for both choir and organ. He is the winner of several awards in organ performance and a composer of both organ and choral music. Many of his choral pieces and organ collections are published by MorningStar Music Publishers, several of which are included in a series called Sacred Music from Lenoir-Rhyne. Other pieces are published by Augsburg Fortess and Concordia Publishing House. You can read more about his compositions and listen to samples of his music on the Compositions page of his website.
In the summers of 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 Michael D. Costello led the Bach Cantata Vespers Choir of Grace Lutheran on a tour to Germany, the highlight of which was singing for a Sunday service at the Leipzig Thomaskirche, the church J.S. Bach served from 1723 until his death in 1750. During the service, Michael led the Bach Cantata Vespers Choir (along with Leipziger Barockorchester in 2012 and the Sächsisches Barockorchester in 2014, 2016, and 2018) in performances of J.S. Bach's cantatas, as well as other service music. He has prepared and directed the Bach Cantata Vespers Chorus and Orchestra in their first performances of J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244), St. John Passion (BWV 245), Mass in B Minor (BWV 232), and Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248).
Michael D. Costello is an active member of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, the American Guild of Organists, and the American Choral Directors Association. Michael is married to Rebekah Weant Costello, also a musician and a graduate student at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary. They currently live in Maywood, Illinois and are the proud parents of Andrew Doyle Costello and Lydia Marie Costello. |
