JACOB BENDA serves as the Director of Sacred Music, Liturgy, Sacred Arts, and Faculty Member at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Active as a concert organist, pianist, choral conductor, educator, published author, editor, and organ consultant, he has been featured as a guest artist at universities, festivals, and churches throughout the world. 

In November, Dr. Benda represented the United States at the 2023 International Sacred Music Conference held at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Kraków, Poland, where he offered a lecture alongside sacred music experts from Germany, Italy, Poland, and Slovenia. During the conference, he was given the honor of performing two inaugural organ concerts, as well as a feature performance on the rare Cavaille-Coll copy at the Church of Divine Mercy. Other highlights include a guest lecture at the Yale School of Divinity, solo performances with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra and the University of St. Thomas Festival & Student Orchestras, a solo concert at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, and an upcoming tour with the award-winning ensemble, Le Quatuor International de Saxophones.

Past engagements include solo performances for the 2023 AGO North Central Regional Convention Opening Gala Concert, the 2019 Los Angeles AGO Opening Gala Concert, the 2018 East Texas Pipe Organ Festival, and solo concerts at the University of Arizona, University of Iowa, University of North Texas, Plymouth Congregational Church in Seattle, Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans, Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, and many others.

Enthusiastic about music from all eras, Jacob has a special affinity for new music and has premiered works by Pamela Decker, James Sclater, Gary Bachlund, and James Callahan. The world-premiere performance of Organ Concerto No. 2 by James Callahan, with the composer at the podium, was broadcast in its entirety on American Public Media’s Pipedreams hosted by Michael Barone – a radio program that has featured Jacob in 10 different episodes. Several prominent composers have dedicated compositions to him including, Passacaglia and Dance Variations by Pamela Decker, Souevenir for J. by Krzysztof Grzeszczak, and Chromatic Rondo and Fugue in C minor by Gary Bachlund. A champion of organ and choral music by American composer Clarence Mader, his landmark recording, Music at Midnight, A Tonal Palette, Organ Music by Clarence Mader, (Centaur Label, CRC 3361), was applauded by the American Record Guide as:

"an important picture of American organ art in the 20th century...talented young American organist Jacob Benda performs with confident rhythmic stability and polished technical assurance."

As a collaborative artist, Jacob has had the privilege to work with instrumentalists, choirs, and ensembles throughout the United States including the Cathedral Choir of The Basilica of St. Mary, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, the Cornell University Glee Club, violinists Borislava Iltcheva and Allison Ostrander, classical guitarists Tanja Mirić and Darka Kooienga, and conductor Dr. Matthew George.

Former Dean of the Twin Cities Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and current Board Member of the Ruth and Clarence Mader Memorial Scholarship Fund based in Los Angeles, Jacob earned his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Louisiana State University in 2015 under the mentorship of Dr. Herndon Spillman, protégé of Maurice Duruflé.