Elyse O’Kane Records 12 Compositions On First CD

By GRETCHEN KEISER, Staff Writer

Published: November 6, 2003

ATLANTA—Musician Elyse O’Kane of the archdiocese has released her first CD featuring12 songs she has composed over the last decade. Mary Welch Rogers produced the CD, and other archdiocesan artists to it include Ed Bolduc and Father Tim Hepburn.

Bringing her music to a wider public is the fulfillment of a dream for O’Kane, who has served in the music ministry at Corpus Christi Church, Stone Mountain, for many years, sung at the Eucharistic Congresses of the archdiocese, and led the music ministry of the Atlanta chapter of Magnificat for over 10 years.

Her first composition came spontaneously in 1991 as she was driving home from Mass while on vacation, she recalled.

“Jan Nerone and Olga Myers and I were praying together (at that time) and we were starting to talk about forming a Magnificat group in Atlanta,” O’Kane said. “On my way home (from Mass) I started singing, ‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,’” the words of Mary’s Magnificat, to a melody that was lively and had the cadence of a Hebrew dance. She sang the entire song in the car as she drove and then thought, “What just happened?”

“ Suddenly I realized I had written a song for the first time.”

Months later, when the decision was made to start the Magnificat chapter, she sang the piece for Myers and then wrote down the melody line. Although she can hear the full instrumentation, she has relied on the assistance of professional musicians to transfer what she hears to sheet music.

Raised listening to opera, O’Kane studied musical theater for two years in college before entering into her major of speech pathology. Although she performed in musical theater during and after college, music has been in the background after she married and she and her husband John began raising three sons.

Even before the CD was produced, her “Magnificat” composition was being used by the New Orleans-based Magnificat ministry, which has chapters in dioceses in the United States and internationally, as the theme for its ministry to Catholic women.

In the months and years that followed, she continued to hear music, both melodies and lyrics, and to write them down without being sure whether they would be published or sung.

“I didn’t know how to record music. I could only write it out in a very crude manner. I prayed for a long time for someone to help me do this,” O’Kane said.

She credits her husband with encouraging her to follow through on this gift and record her music.

A growing friendship with Mary Welch Rogers, a professional singer, composer and performer who belongs to the Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta, began when Rogers was the testimonial speaker at the first Magnificat breakfast in Atlanta, and continued as they sang at Magnificat and other events. Rogers asked her what she intended to do with her music and then offered to produce the CD.

“I know that without her help, her encouragement and her belief in my music, this would never have been possible,”

O’Kane said.

The CD was produced at Twelve Oaks Studio in Smyrna and engineered by Jeff Sandstrom.

“I just felt incredible gratitude” for the assistance of Rogers, Bolduc, Father Hepburn and others involved in the CD, O’Kane said. “There are a lot of ‘yeses’ involved in this, not just my ‘yes.’ It was so humbling being surrounded by all these gifted musicians.”

One song, “I Am Waiting for You,” is written “from the perspective of the Lord” and needed a male vocalist as the lead singer. That song is the one Father Hepburn sings.

Bolduc, music director at St. Ann’s Church, Marietta, and a national liturgical and Life Teen composer, plays keyboards and sings a duet with O’Kane on the CD. Some of the other local singers include Rogers, Karen Bolduc and Alexa Elwell, who co-wrote one composition, “The Angelus.”

O’Kane’s compositions have a unique character, Rogers said, some bringing an element of chant to them. All are contemporary, yet timeless in their appeal. They reflect her prayerful spirit, her heartfelt worship of God and love for God and his Blessed Mother through music. The songs bring listeners into a spiritual oasis.

“Elyse’s music is unique in that some of her songs are more ‘chant’ style. This style requires a group sound. Her songs can be sung as solos or as a group song. This is the beauty of her music. It is both liturgical and solo oriented,” Rogers said.

Titles include “Invocation of the Holy Spirit,” “Come Holy Spirit,” “The Angelus” and “Hail Mary.” The CD, which is called “With All My Heart,” also includes “Be Faithful, Be Holy,” “Magnificat,” “Messiah and King,” “Bless the Lord,” “A New Creation,” “Remember Me” and “I Love You, Lord Jesus.”

“My prayer from the very beginning was whoever listened to it would be given God’s gifts of peace, joy and inner healing,” O’Kane said.

For more information or to order copies of the CD or cassette tape, visit www.elyseokane.com or write Elyse O’Kane, P.O. Box 612, Stone Mountain, GA 30086. “With All My Heart” is also available at area Catholic bookstores.