Rev. Richard Munkelt was born in Connecticut and has lived in Japan, Manhattan, and Italy. He is a graduate of Kenyon College, the New School for Social Research, and the University St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. Fr. Munkelt holds a doctorate in philosophy. His dissertation was on the metaphysical foundations of modern logic in the work of W.V. Quine. This in turn became the basis of his magnum opus, Metaphysics and Modernity, From Parmenides to Quantum Physics, published in the fall of 2023. But over the years in the midst of his philosophical researches and pastoral work, Fr. Munkelt dreamt of writing a story of operatic proportions. When reading Plutarch's Life of Gaius Gracchus, he found just what he needed to realize his dream. Hence, the opera Gracchus, a tale of an ancient tragic figure and an allegory of our times, fruit of a long collaboration with the composer, David Hughes. Fr. Munkelt lives in New Jersey and celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass.

David Hughes is organist & choirmaster at Saint Patrick Oratory in Waterbury, Connecticut, where he directs the St. Patrick Choir and the St. Elijah Choir, a new ensemble of Catholic students at the University of Connecticut. He directs Viri Galilæi, an ensemble of men from the tristate New York. A board member of the Church Music Association of America, Hughes serves on the faculty of its annual Sacred Music Colloquium. He is director of music for the Roman Forum’s annual two-week Summer Symposium at Lake Garda in Italy; he is also a board Member of the Roman Forum. He was named chant instructor for St. Benedict Abbey in Still River, Massachusetts. He has traveled frequently to give workshops, clinics, and recitals in North America, South America, and Europe.