Pope Benedict XVI's Visit To The U.S.
Apr 16, 2008 1:24 am US/Eastern
Butler Co. Native Directs Music For Pope's Mass
WASHINGTON (KDKA) ―
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President George W. Bush welcomes Pope Benedict XVI upon the pontiff's arrival at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on April 15, 2008.
CBS
A Butler County native is in charge of the music for Pope Benedict XVI's mass at Nationals Stadium.
Thomas Stehle, a Duquesne University graduate, has been working with a 250-member choir in preparation for the historic mass.
"I'm out here seeing if the stage is what we have planned and finding out that it's not quite so we're making last-minute adjustments even now," he said.
Stehle is now a music director at a church outside of Washington, D.C. and still seems a little surprised that he finds himself directing all of the music for the mass.
"It's a tremendous honor," notes Stehle. "But it's also - it's a job in a way that it's a responsibility so I just said, 'If somebody believes that I have what it takes to do it, then I'll just say, "Yes." ' "
Stehle is overseeing four choirs and coordinating opera singers Placido Domingo and Denise Graves.
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