The Choir of the Basilica is the resident choir of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (Washington, DC).  The choir is comprised of sixteen professional singers from the greater Washington metropolitan area and is dedicated to providing excellence in sacred choral music in the context of Liturgy throughout the Liturgical Year.   The choir is engaged in almost one hundred performances each year, and prepares approximately three hundred works each season drawn from the wealth of the Roman Catholic sacred music tradition.   In addition to performing choral literature from the vast treasury of sacred music, the choir champions newly composed works and has given numerous premiers including Henryk Gorecki’s Pod twoja obrone (North American premiere) and James MacMillan Tota pulchra es (world premiere). 
 
The choir maintains an active recording schedule and their performances have been broadcast throughout the world on the Eternal Word Television Network, NPR, WAOB  Radio, Salt and Light, and  the Catholic Channel on Sirius XM.  The choir has been featured at numerous festivals and conferences including the International Festival of Sacred Music and Art in Rome, the National Conventions of the American Guild of Organists, the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, the Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians, and the American Choral Directors Association.
 
The choir has performed for dignitaries and heads of states including during the apostolic visits of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis in 2008 and 2015 respectively.
 
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Peter Latona (b. 1968) is the Music Director for the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (Washington, D.C.), the pre-eminent Marian shrine of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. Recognized as a conductor, composer, organist, improviser and teacher, he is dedicated to providing the highest standard in sacred music within the context of the Roman Catholic Liturgy.
 
An award-winning organist, Dr. Latona has performed throughout the United States, Europe and the Holy Land, has presented workshops on improvisation, and has released a recording, An Organ Pilgrimage, on the Raven label, featuring all four pipe organs at the Basilica.  In 2012 he performed to an audience of one thousand having been invited as a featured artist for the Festspiele Europaische Wochen in Passau, Germany. As the conductor of the Choir of the Basilica, he released numerous recordings of sacred choral music, presented concerts in the United States and abroad, performed nationally for the American Guild of Organists, National Pastoral Musicians Association, Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedrals, Church Music Association of America and internationally as a featured conductor in the Festival Internazionale di Musica e Arte Sacra. Among the recently completed recording projects is Tu es Petrus: A Papal Tribute in Music which commemorates the Papacy of Pope Benedict XVI and celebrates the Petrine ministry of Pope Francis and Te Deum: The Sacred Music of Peter Latona which was commissioned by the Knights of Columbus and features many of the works composed by Dr. Latona for the National Shrine.   Active as a composer, Dr. Latona is published by Morningstar Music Publishers as well as Canticanova Publications, and G.I.A.  His music has been featured in various media productions including Fr. Barron’s well-known series Catholicism. He recently won first prize in a composition competition sponsored by the Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians for his Priests of God/Servants of God and Go into All the World.  He has received commissions from the Knights of Columbus, Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, the Diocese of Helena, as well as by the Archdioceses of Washington, New York and Philadelphia. His music was performed during the Apostolic visit of His Holiness Benedict XVI to the United States in 2008 and in each city visited by Pope Francis during his 2015 Apostolic visit to the United States. In recognition of this, Dr. Latona was awarded the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal by Pope Francis.  Dr. Latona is a graduate of Bucknell University (B. Mus.), the Yale School of Music (M. Mus.), and the Manhattan School of Music (D.M.A.).