MARQUETTE — The Marquette Choral Society has presented its 2022 Upper Peninsula Choral Leadership Award to John Ignatowski, the Director of Sacred Music and Liturgy at St. Joseph & St. Patrick Parish in Escanaba. Ignatowski was honored as a musician who has made a long-time impact on numerous sacred and secular choral groups throughout the U.P. and Canada.

In addition to the Escanaba parish, Ignatowski has served at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Wells, St. Peter Cathedral in Marquette, and Holy Name of Mary Proto-Cathedral in Sault Ste. Marie. He was the co-founder and director of the Soo’s community choral society and music director of the Algoma Fall Festival Choir of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. He has been a chorusmaster for Lake Superior State University, Soo Theatre and Escanaba’s Holy Name School stage productions.

Ignatowski’s experience also extends to the Catholic Diocese of Marquette liturgies where he served as music director and conductor of the choir for the episcopal ordination of Bishop Alexander Sample in 2006, as well as for the Sesquicentennial Mass at the Superior Dome in 2007.

His principal instruments are the piano, organ and harpsichord, but he also plays the violoncello, bass viola and traditional fiddle. Among Ignatowski’s published works are several choral compositions and the text for “Shepherds Toiling in the Wilderness,” a song in The Hymnal of the Diocese of Marquette.