Spirit and Life

Tony Ward is native son of South Omaha, born in 1974 to a family descended from Polish and German-Irish immigrants. From the age of four, he has been fascinated with the inner workings and expressive potential of music, and his upbringing in immigrant Catholic churches steeped in their own ethnic musical traditions led him to a particular attaction to liturgical music. His first full-time job was as an elementary music teacher and liturgist, which he supplemented with part-time directorships of local church choirs, and a brief stint in classical radio. After three wonderful years of teaching, he turned his attention to parish liturgy, eventually finding himself at Creighton University, where he currently serves as Director of Music Ministry for Campus Ministry and St. John’s Parish.

While Tony have been active in liturgical composition for many years, the time he's spent at St. John’s has been a key formative and creative experience: nine of the ten songs on this album were written for this community. He's also been blessed to work closely with Roc O’Connor, SJ (of St. Louis Jesuits fame), who asked him to write the arrangements of his three contributions to the St. Louis Jesuits 2005 anniversary album,

Morning Light.This experience prompted Tony to take a much more aggressive approach to writing, recording, and publishing his work, and this collection represents much of the fruits of these endeavors.

Tony lives in Omaha with his wife Jenny (whose voice you hear on "Song of Thanksgiving",) and his three children: Anna, Ian and Aidan (who are namesakes of three tunes on this album.)

This delightfully spirited and inspired recording features ten songs, all composed by Tony.

• Open My Heart  (6:57)
• We Arise This Day  (2:41)
• It is Good  (4:14)
• O Christ Our Life  (3:33)
• Spirit of Our God  (4:00)
• Yours is the Gift  (3:42)
• The Colossian Call  (3:43)
• Blessed Are You, O Lord  (5:20)
• Song of Thanksgiving  (3:07)
• Light in the Darkness  (4:01)