Lux vivens (living light) is excerpted from a processional chant by Saint Hildegard of Bingen. A hymn to the nine ranks of angels, the text speaks of the mystic darkness of the world and the yearnings of the angels for the light of divinity.
​Born out of a desire to bring to light the work of living composers who desire a renewal of the true, the good, and the beautiful in our culture, Lux Vivens was founded with a few core principles:​​​​​​
To highlight the work of emerging composers of sacred music.
To commission new works for liturgical and devotional use.
To reinvigorate the patronage of the Catholic Church for living artists.​
New Music for a Living Church
For centuries, the Church has been a patron of the world’s greatest artists, commissioning master craftsmen like Caravaggio, Raphael, and Michelangelo to beautify her churches. The grandeur of buildings like the Sistine Chapel or Notre Dame de Paris thus demanded music of equal majesty, and the church employed some of the most brilliant minds of each era, such as Josquin de Prez and Giovanni Palestrina to adorn these spaces with aural beauty. Countless other composers have filled the treasury of sacred music with masterworks, relying on the patronage of parishes that employed them to sustain their creative output.
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Lux Vivens exists to bring the Church’s artistic patronage into the 21st century, promoting the creation of new sacred music for worship and devotion.
Artistic Director and Founder
Minneapolis based musician, Josh Wang, is a conductor, organist, pianist, tenor. Motivated by the desire to reacquaint modern Catholics with their own illustrious musical heritage, he has a passion for leading choirs to the highest of their own capabilities. He currently serves as the Director of Sacred Music at the Church of Saint Mary Lowertown in Saint Paul, MN, home of the aspiring Twin Cities Oratory, where he directs the parish schola, polyphony choir and oversees a growing program of visiting musicians including, most recently, internationally acclaimed composer, James MacMillan. Additionally, he serves as an assistant organist at the Cathedral of Saint Paul.
In addition to his parish work, Josh serves as the choir director at Holy Spirit Academy in Monticello where he directs the all-school choir, chamber choir and teaches an elective in sacred music. Starting in the fall of 2025 he will be the founding music teacher at the Saint Augustine School in Mendota Heights, working with students in grades 6-12.
Previously, he served Director of Music at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Golden Valley MN, where he was tasked with rebuilding a music program from the ground up after the covid pandemic. Under his leadership the re-formed adult choir mounted performances of the Anerio Missa pro defunctis, Mozart’s Missa Brevis in G, KV 140 and Hadyn’s
Missa Brevis in F. Simultaneously, he founded a parish youth choir which boasts 30 singers, and in 2023, traveled to Chicago for a national Pueri Cantores Festival and sang for Mass at the historic St. John Cantius Church.
Josh holds degrees in piano performance from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (B.M.) and Bowling Green State University (M.M.) as well as a Masters of Sacred Music in Choral Conducting from the University of Notre Dame, where he studied conducting with Carmen Tellez and Mark Doerries. He is a proud member of the Church Music Association of America, American Choral Directors Association and the American Guild of Organists.