Jennifer Pascual, DMA

Dr. Jennifer Pascual was appointed Director of Music at the Cathedral of St. Patrick in New York City in 2003. She is the first woman to hold this position, one of the most prestigious sacred music appointments in the United States. Jennifer earned a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Organ Performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY where she studied with David Higgs and taught undergraduate theory courses.  She holds a Master of Music Degree in Piano Performance from the Mannes College of Music in New York City where she studied with Nina Svetlanova and studied organ privately with Mc Neil Robinson.  She received the Bachelor of Music Degrees in Piano and Organ Performance, magna cum laude, and Music Education from Jacksonville University in Florida where she studied with Mary Lou Wesley Krosnick and William Saunders and taught both organ and piano in the University's Continuing Education Department.  She was on the Artistic Staff of the Boys Choir of Harlem, Inc. from 1994 to 2003.  She has served as an organist and choir director in the Dioceses of St. Augustine, FL and Rochester, NY, and the Archdioceses of Newark, NJ and New York City, NY, and has served at three Roman Catholic Cathedrals. She conducts the New York Archdiocesan Festival Chorale and is Professor and Director of Music of St. Joseph's Seminary and College in New York.

Dr. Pascual is a member of the American Guild of Organists, NY Archdiocesan Music Commission and Chair of the Organ Committee, Steering Committee Member of the Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians, Liturgical Organists Consortium, EastWest Organists, and National Association of Pastoral Musicians, where she serves on the National Board, as Vice-Chair of the Section Committee for Organists, and is a frequent recitalist and clinician at national conventions. She was a finalist in the 1990 Florida First Coast Piano Competition, performed Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto with the Jacksonville University Community Orchestra in 1993 while also a French Horn player in the orchestra, performed in the 1995 Bach Aria Festival, was a featured soloist in the 2004 International Bamboo Organ Festival in Manila and is a recipient of the Paderewski Medal and Theodore Presser Award. Jennifer has performed in Italy, Austria, the Philippines, and the United States. In April 2008, she had the privilege of overseeing all of the liturgical music for His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI's visit to New York in addition to conducting music for the Masses at St. Patrick's Cathedral and Yankee Stadium and the Ecumenical Service at St. Joseph's Church. Two weeks later, she conducted the Cathedral of St. Patrick Choir for President Bush at the White House for National Day of Prayer. In December 2008, she was conferred the medal of the Order of St. Gregory the Great in recognition of service to the Church. She also conducted in performance twice during that Christmas season at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center.