Christian M. Clough, B.A., M.M., M.A.R., has been active as a choral conductor, singer and keyboardist for over three decades. He holds the Master of Music degree, with a double concentration in Organ Performance and Choral Conducting, from the Yale University School of Music, where his conducting teacher was Marguerite Brooks. The primary focus of his work has been in the church, where, in addition to the typical weekly duties of an organist and conductor, he has also led choirs in cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach and Johann Pachelbel; various large-scale Renaissance polychoral compositions; the Requiem masses of Fauré and Duruflé; and choral masses by composers as diverse as Palestrina, Handel, Rheinberger, Pärt, and Jonathan Dove—the North American, and worldwide liturgical, premiere of whose Koethener Messe, based on themes from works by JS Bach, he conducted in 2006. Outside his church work, Christian has experience with community choral ensembles and musical theater. He was a conducting fellow of the late Sir David Willcocks at the Ogontz Festival, summer 1996.
Christian began piano studies at the age of 6, and organ lessons at the age of 13. After graduating from the Yale School of Music, he spent a year continuing his organ studies in London, England, and subsequently returned to Yale University Divinity School for the Master of Arts in Religion (Liturgical Studies concentration, magna cum laude, 2003). He has also studied vocal performance and organ improvisation.
In 2022, Christian was appointed Canon for Liturgy & Music for St. Luke’s Cathedral, Portland, Maine, where he oversees a lively music program that includes varied offerings for the in-house congregation, and programming for the Episcopal Diocese of Maine and the greater Portland community. Prior to his appointment at St. Luke’s, he served congregations in central FL; Central New York; Connecticut; Santa Barbara, CA; Washington, DC; and most recently, more than a decade at St. Paul & the Redeemer Episcopal Church, Hyde Park, Chicago, IL.
Christian grew up in Hamilton, NY. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking, writing, traveling, photography, birdwatching, studying foreign languages, and the pursuit of a variety of outdoor activities. He is particularly interested in the communal life, worship, and music of the Shakers, and is associated with the still-active Shaker community at Sabbathday Lake, north of Grey, Maine. He and his husband Christopher Worthley, who grew up in Kennebunk, reside in South Portland with their rescued chocolate Cocker Spaniel, Dakota.
For more on Chrisitan, please visit