St. Boniface's new leader starts on a high note

Steven Ball might say he has landed exactly where he is meant to be. The newly named music director and organist at St. Boniface Episcopal Church on Siesta Key arrives with a career that reads like a divinely led score: organist, carillonneur, improviser, composer, conductor, consultant and silent film accompanist — and now steward of one of Southwest Florida’s most distinguished church music programs.

Ball grew up on a farm in rural Michigan, where his fascination with the pipe organ began before he could even talk. 

“Whenever we went to church, that was all I was interested in,” he recalls. His parents recognized and nurtured that spark. His father, a farmer with an engineer’s mind, checked out books on organ building from the library and helped 6-year-old Ball construct a small pipe organ in their basement. His mother’s support gave him time to practice, while farm work instilled a deep respect for nature and the environment.

As a teenager, Ball attended a recital by renowned American concert organist Marilyn Mason, who later championed his education at the University of Michigan, where he eventually earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts in 2007. A Fulbright scholarship in 2002 took him to the Netherlands to study campanology, the science of bells, “a whole separate but related discipline,” he notes.

Over the years, Ball has enjoyed a wide and varied career that includes serving as organist and director of outreach (now emeritus) for the world’s largest pipe organ located in Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, organist for the Miss America pageant in 2014-15 while also playing for Philadelphia’s Cathedral Basilica and director of sacred music at The Oratory of St. Francis de Sales in St. Louis. He also taught at his alma mater in Michigan and teaches now at the University of Tampa. 

In 2021, Ball’s love of theater organs led him to Tampa Theatre, where he met Rosa Rio, one of the country’s premier theater organists and his predecessor there. She was 101 when they met and died just shy of her 108th birthday. “I interviewed Rosa quite extensively to gain a better understanding of her work,” Ball says, particularly her role in shaping theater music on the East Coast and in New York City beginning in the 1920s.

Although Ball served as St. Boniface’s interim music director for three months before applying for the permanent role, Rev. Nikki Seger, the church’s rector, says he underwent the same vetting process as every other candidate. He rose to the top of 17 applicants and three finalists, meeting the demands of a job description with more than a dozen major responsibilities.

“His résumé is spectacular,” says Seger. “Beyond his skills and talents, the winning combination was my ability to work with him; he is a generous, gifted and fun colleague.”

Seger underscores the rarity of Ball’s expertise. “Being a church’s music director is challenging,” she says, adding especially at a place like St. Boniface, “which has a long tradition of exceptional music.”

Photo by Lori Sax 

In addition to directing organ and choral music for all principal services, Ball is responsible for planning, recruiting, managing and rehearsing the parish choir, parish musicians, the Young Artists Showcase and the handbell choir. He also oversees the care of the church’s instruments, including the pipe organ and grand piano.

Collaboration is essential. Beyond technique, the music program at St. Boniface emphasizes joy and spiritual formation. “There is a way of experiencing God here through beauty, history and the process of making music together,” says Ball.

Ball’s mission includes expanding St. Boniface’s sacred repertoire — Anglican chant, spirituals, classical and contemporary works — while also giving the parish’s many musical offerings a cohesive identity. “One of the things the church would like to see in the future is to gain more cohesiveness and show that these are expressions of music as the gift of God,” says Ball.

Looking ahead, Ball plans to develop music programs for the church’s outdoor venue. “We have a wonderful outdoor space here that is underutilized,” he says. He also hopes to introduce early music of the Americas, illuminating Florida’s role as one of the original cultural crossroads in what became the United States. 

For Ball, whose experience of Southwest Florida was previously limited to the mainland, Siesta Key has felt heaven-sent. 

“I’ve known that Sarasota was a world-class arts and culture capital,” he says. “But I wasn’t aware of Siesta Key until I first came to St. Boniface. I can only say this place is magical.”

The church, designed by Paul Rudolph and set on 4.5 acres across from the Gulf, glows with stained-glass windows depicting the story of creation. One wall is formed by the pipe organ, which is more than 25 feet tall and 50 feet wide. “The winds of inspiration blow through the entire building, elevating the beauty of the space and the music,” Seger says.

To Ball, the campus feels like a “secret garden.” 

“There is a silence here that enhances the music,” he says. “When we experience music, we are hearing sound and when it comes from a quiet place, it is very impactful.”