Organist-Choir Director
Our Organist-Choir Director, Susan Jensen came to us in 1994 and now celebrates her fifteenth year of Music Ministry at Grace, and her 35th year in the Diocese of Oregon. A lifelong Episcopalian, she graduated from Lewis and Clark College with a degree in Organ Performance and pursued post-graduate studies in organ with Margaret Irwin-Brandon and Harold Vogel, and harpsichord with Edith Kilbuck and Ton Koopman. She was appointed organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Portland, Oregon from 1977-1989, is a member of the American Guild of Organists, the Association of Anglican Musician, and the Royal School of Church Music. Susan is principal harpsichordist and organist with the nationally acclaimed Portland Baroque Orchestra since 1986, and has performed with the Oregon Symphony, the Portland Opera, Chamber Music Northwest, the Oregon Bach Festival, and as well as many festival series. Susan is on the Fine and Performing Arts faculty of Oregon Episcopal School where she teaches visual arts at the Upper School level and is the Music Department Chair PreK-12.
In her first Episcopal position, she was hired the Youth Choir Director for Christ Church, Lake Oswego by the Rev. John Bright. In her second position she was hired to be the Assistant Organist at St. Michael and All Angels, Portland, to accompany the Choir of Men and Boys in 1974. She was appointed organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Portland, Oregon from 1977-1989, where she also chaired the Diocesan Music Commission and actively led diocesan workshops to introduce the Hymnal 1982. She later worked for the parishes of St. Stephen’s Episcopal, and St. Aidan’s Episcopal, Gresham before coming to Grace Memorial. Susan is a member of the American Guild of Organists and became a member of the Association of Anglican Musician, nominated by Alec Wyton, former Organist of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, NY, in 1986. She is also an active member of the Royal School of Church Music, having established the OES Boys Choir at Oregon Episcopal School in 2005.
As principal harpsichordist with the Portland Baroque Orchestra she works under the artistic direction of world-class violinist, Monica Huggett. She is one of a handful of harpsichordists in the NW that specializes in the art of continuo playing and figured bass, and has performed hundreds of concerts on most major concert series in the NW.
Her ensemble Allora has performed at many concerts at Grace Memorial, and in the NW, and has travelled to Austria to perform on the Danube Music Series for five summers.
Susan can be heard with the PBO orchestra on the following recordings (http://www.pbo.org/index_new.php?page=music):
The Four Seasons, Opus 8 and Opus 11 Concerti
Six Concerti from Opus 8, Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione (The Contest of Harmony and Invention, 1725)
and on 2-CD: Anniversary Edition II (A two-CD set including works from favorite concerts of years past: four full concert concertos and two complete cantatas featuring soloists Matthew White, James Weaver, Gary Cooper, Susan Jensen, Gonzalo Ruiz, and Monica Huggett