Dr. Michael Plagerman

Director of Sacred Music

Dr. Michael Plagerman is a lifelong student of the church’s music, whose career now spans fourteen years of ecclesiastical service. A passionate church musician, Michael advocates for the renewed reading and appreciation for the documents of the Second Vatican Council. He is invested in preserving the sacred treasury of the church’s music, primarily chant and sacred polyphony, through the continuation of the performance practices that have endured through the centuries. He also advocates for the adjustment of historical practices where they no longer fit their original purpose, thereby allowing the church’s immense musical heritage to continue as a living tradition, rather than as merely a collection of historical objects.

Michael holds degrees from Pacific Lutheran University (B.Mus), the University of Notre Dame (MSM), and Cornell University (MFA, DMA) where he studied organ with Paul Tegels, Craig Cramer, Christoph Mantoux, Annette Richards and Nathan Laube. His scholarly research focuses on the sounds and uses of late 19th-century organs in and around Boston. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the James D. Holloway Scholarship and the Craig Cramer Award in Organ Performance. In 2025 Michael premiered Judith Bingham’s Seven Last Words in the context of Blessed Sacrament’s observation of Tre Ore.

In addition to his work with liturgical and organ music, Michael is a dedicated choral director, having studied with Brian Galante, Richard Nance, and Stephen Spinelli, among others. In 2025, under Michael’s direction, the Cantorei of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament premiered the work Jesus Stood on the Shore by Grammy Award-Winning composer Kile Smith. Blessed Sacrament regularly commissions works for both liturgical and concert use, continuing to grow the sacred repertoire in the context of the living tradition of the church’s music.

In addition to his lifelong vocation to the service of God and the church through music, Michael is an avid hobby woodworker and enjoys spending time driving tractors and chasing cows on his family’s farm in eastern Washington, as well as traveling, cooking, and otherwise sharing life with his wife, Erin.