POPE FRANCIS: Filipina/American is music director for the Madison Square Garden Mass

The music director for the Friday Papal Mass is Dr. Jennifer Pascual, who is also in charge of the music at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. 

OVERSEEING THE MUSIC for the Papal Mass that will be held in Madison Square Garden this Friday, Sept. 25, is a Filipina/American – Dr. Jennifer Pascual, the Director of Music of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The religious ceremony is expected to attract 20,000 to the sports arena, home of basketball's New York Knicks and hockey's New York Rangers.

Dr. 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.

Aside from directing music at St. Patrick’s, a center of Catholic life in America, Jennifer is also host of the popular radio program “Sounds from the Spires” on the Catholic Channel 159. She currently teaches and serves as Director of Music at the St. Joseph’s Seminary and College in Yonkers, New York.

Born in Los Angeles, Jennifer proudly said that her parents are both from Manila and met in California. Her father is a U.S. Navy veteran while her mother is a retired nurse.

Dr. Jennifer Pascual

Jennifer has an extensive background in music. She 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 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. 

Dr. Pascual is a member of the American Guild of Organists; New York Archdiocesan Music Commission, currently serving as its chair; Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians, having previously served on the Steering Committee; Liturgical Organists Consortium; EastWest Organists; and National Association of Pastoral Musicians, where she serves on the National Board and is a frequent recitalist and clinician at national conventions. 

She was a featured soloist in the 2004 and 2012 International Bamboo Organ Festival in Manila and is a recipient of the Paderewski Medal and Theodore Presser Award. Jennifer has performed in Austria, Canada, Italy, Russia, the Philippines, and throughout the United States. 

This is not her first Papal Mass. 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 St. Patrick's Cathedral Choir for President George W. Bush at The White House for the National Day of Prayer. In December 2008, she named a Dame 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.

###