BIOGRAPHY

JAEBON HWANG is a Portland-based concert organist, composer, and collaborative keyboardist known for her versatile musicianship and wide-ranging career. She is currently on the faculty at Lewis & Clark College, where she teaches organ, and has previously taught composition and music theory at San Diego State University. 

She has held prominent church music positions, including Director of Music Ministries and Organist at First United Methodist Church of San Diego, Organist at Westwood United Methodist Church in Los Angeles, and Assistant Organist at First Congregational Church of Los Angeles. Dr. Hwang earned the Fellow of the American Guild of Organists (FAGO)—the Guild’s highest professional certification—and holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California, where she studied organ with Dr. Ladd Thomas and composition with Dr. Morten Lauridsen. 

Before focusing on organ, Dr. Hwang earned degrees in Composition from Korea National University of Arts and in Scoring for Film & Multimedia from New York University. Her submission to the 8th Annual Young Film Composers Competition, sponsored by Turner Classic Movies, won third place among more than 850 international entries. She was selected multiple times to participate in the ASCAP film scoring workshops, most notably the ASCAP Television & Film Scoring Workshop with Richard Bellis held in Los Angeles. Her film scores have been featured in numerous festivals, including her 2008 commissioned score for the silent film “Les Deux Timides” (René Clair, 1929), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

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An active member of the American Guild of Organists, Dr. Hwang has served in various leadership roles and directed the 2018 Pipe Organ Encounter, a weeklong youth outreach program hosted by the AGO’s Los Angeles chapter. She has also served as a judge for several prestigious performance and composition competitions, including the AGO’s Pogorzelski-Yankee competition and the Regional Competition for Young Organists. 

She has performed nationwide as both a soloist and ensemble collaborator, working with distinguished organizations such as the Los Angeles Opera and the San Diego Symphony. Her recording credits include Hollywood Epic Brass (2014) with leading Los Angeles studio musicians and Mysterium (2022) with violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Dr. Hwang has been featured at the AGO West Region Conventions and the AGO OrganFest 2021.

An active recitalist, composer, and collaborative artist, Dr. Hwang continues to perform and accept commissions, with her choral and organ works published by Lorenz and Selah.