Dr. Jennifer Pascual was appointed Director of Music at St. Patrick's Cathedral 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 (NY), and has served at three Roman Catholic Cathedrals. Dr. Pascual served as Professor and Director of Music of St. Joseph’s Seminary and College in Yonkers, New York from 2007 to 2014. She also currently serves as the Director of Music of the New York Archdiocesan Festival Chorale.
Dr. Pascual is a member of the American Guild of Organists (AGO), having previously served the New York City Chapter as an auditor; Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians (CRCCM), having previously served on the Steering Committee; Liturgical Organists Consortium; EastWest Organists; National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NPM), having previously served as the Chair of the Board of Directors; St. Wilfrid Club; and Liturgy Committee for the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. She is a frequent recitalist and clinician at national conventions.
She was a finalist in the 1990 Florida First Coast Piano Competition, performed Rachmaninoff’s "Piano Concerto No. 2" in 1993 with the Jacksonville University Community Orchestra, where she was also a french horn player, performed in the 1995 Bach Aria Festival in New York, was a featured soloist in the 2004 and 2012 International Bamboo Organ Festival in Manila, performed in the Royal Christmas International Festival in 2013 (where she was the first American invited to perform) and 2016 in Moscow and the regions of Russia, and served as a juror during the 2014 Organ Festival at the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Moscow. In 2015, she was one of the organists for the dedication of the first pipe organ installation in the Far East Russian Federation in Vladivostok. Dr. Pascual is a recipient of the Paderewski Medal and Theodore Presser Award. Jennifer has performed in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Israel, Italy, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Spain, Vatican City, and throughout the United States.
In April 2008, she had the privilege of overseeing all of the liturgical music for His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI during his Pastoral 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, Jennifer conducted the St. Patrick’s Cathedral Choir for President George W. Bush at the White House for the National Day of Prayer. In December 2008, she was named a Dame of the Order of St. Gregory the Great in recognition of her service to the Church. She also conducted two performances during that Christmas season at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. In April 2009, Dr. Pascual conducted all of the music for the Installation Liturgies of Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan. Under her direction, the New York Archdiocesan Festival Chorale traveled to Rome and Vatican City in June 2009 to sing for the Pallium Pilgrimage of Archbishop Dolan and in February 2012 to sing for the Consistory Pilgrimage of Cardinal Dolan. They have also traveled to Austria, Germany, Ireland and Israel under her direction. In 2010, the St. Patrick’s Cathedral Choir was the only American choir invited to participate in the
IX Festival Internazionale di Musica e Arte Sacra in Rome and Vatican City. In September 2015, Dr. Pascual conducted the New York Archdiocesan Festival Chorale and the St. Patrick’s Cathedral Choir and Orchestra for Mass at Madison Square Garden celebrated by Pope Francis. She also conducted the music for Evening Prayer (Vespers) at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which was also celebrated by the Holy Father.