BIOGRAPHY

Acclaimed for his virtuosity and imaginative programming, JACOB BENDA has been featured as a solo recitalist at universities, festivals, and cathedrals throughout the world. His 2025 organ dedication recital at Boğaziçi Üniversitesi in Istanbul, Turkey, was hailed by Itibar Haber News as a “significant contribution to Türkiye's musical history.” Recent highlights include performances with the Minnesota Orchestra and the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, solo recitals at Boğaziçi Üniversitesi in Istanbul, Turkey, Church of Divine Mercy in Kraków, Poland, Christ Church Cathedral in New Orleans, Louisiana, the East Texas Pipe Organ Festival, guest lectures at Yale University and the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Kraków, Poland, and more. Upcoming engagements include concerto performances with the Kenwood Symphony Orchestra and the University of St. Thomas Festival Orchestra, solo recitals at the Ciclo Internacional de Órgano Romántico in Bergara, Spain, Østerhåb Kirke in Denmark, St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, as well as a concert tour & commercial recording on the Centaur Label with internationally renowned violinist and concertmaster of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, Borislava Iltcheva. 

Appointed in 2022 as the Organ Area Professor and Director of Sacred Music, Liturgy & Sacred Arts at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, Dr. Benda is a prominent educator, published author, editor, and organ consultant. A former Dean of the Twin Cities Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, he currently serves as President of the Ruth and Clarence Mader Memorial Scholarship Fund, based in Los Angeles. In 2015, he earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Louisiana State University under the mentorship of Professor Herndon Spillman, protégé of Maurice Duruflé.

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Enthusiastic about music from all eras, Dr. Benda has a special affinity for new music, having 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 on over ten different episodes. Several prominent composers have dedicated compositions to him, including Passacaglia and Dance Variations by Pamela Decker, Souvenir by J. 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."

Highlights from past seasons include solo performances at the Church Music Association of America 2025 Colloquium, the 2023 American Guild of Organists North Central Regional Convention, the University of Arizona, the University of North Texas, Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, the opening gala performance for the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Guild of Organists 2019-20 season, Plymouth Congregational Church in Seattle, Washington, and several organ dedication concerts throughout the United States and Poland.