Fr René Knaap SSC, Vicar
Fr René was born and grew up in North-west Tasmania. He was ordained deacon for the Diocese of Ballarat in December 2008 and priest in May 2010. He served curacies at Christ Church Hamilton in western Victoria and at Ballarat and Queens Anglican Grammar School as assistant chaplain. He served for four and a half years in the Parish of the Otways based in the beautiful resort town of Apollo Bay.
Fr René has travelled extensively and lived and worked in the Philippines. He has had opportunity for several trips to the Thai-Burma border meeting with refugees and displaced persons. He has a particular interest in art, music and history and has a Masters in Theology with a specialty in Liturgy from the Australian Catholic University. He is currently Provincial Master of the Society of the Holy Cross and priest associate of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.
Fr René is committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ and to making his love known in word and deed. He believes it is important to find new ways of connecting with the community while drawing from the riches of the tradition. With the faithful of All Saints Church, with its fine spiritual, theological and liturgical tradition, he is committed to expanding and deepening the experience of faith in this place.
Mr John O’Donnell, Director of music
Monash University Organist, Founder/Director of Ensemble Gombert, and Director of Music at All Saints East St Kilda – was born in Sydney and educated at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, where he was appointed Lecturer in Academic Studies at the age of eighteen. In 1974 he was appointed Senior Lecturer in Music at the Victorian College of the Arts, where he subsequently served a term as Dean. In 1990 he was appointed Senior Lecturer in Musicology at the University of Melbourne. In 1995 he became a freelance performer, combining this with the position of Choir Director at Ormond College from 2007 to 2010.
He performs regularly as conductor, organist, harpsichordist and pianist and is also active in music research and editing. He has undertaken 21 concert tours of Europe and 12 of North America, principally as organist and choral conductor. He is the first person ever to perform Bach’s complete keyboard works (organ and harpsichord) in public, a total of 29 recitals in all. His recordings of the complete keyboard works of Johann Caspar Kerll (which he had previously edited for the Viennese publisher Doblinger) and organ works of Bach have met with international acclaim, an album of the latter named “Best Recording of the Year” (2000) in the London International Record Review. During 2009 he conducted a highly-acclaimed season of Handel’s opera Xerxes with Victorian Opera, for which he was nominated for a Green Room Award, and in 2014 he directed four performances of the oldest extant opera, Peri’s Euridice, newly edited from the original print, at the Woodend Winter Arts Festival.
