Grace Cathedral

Dear Friends, 

After a nine-month search process Jared Johnson has agreed to serve as our next Canon Director for Music starting on July 1. Jared will direct all aspects of the cathedral’s music programs and will serve as a member of the cathedral’s chapter. 

Jared will be moving here from Columbia, South Carolina where he has served as canon organist and choirmaster of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral since 2003. He directs the Cathedral Choristers, which features advanced choirs for boys, girls, and young men.  

Jared was the music director for the Royal School of Church Music Carolina Course at Duke in 2019, and he will serve as music director of the Saint Thomas Girl Chorister Course this summer. He has performed organ recitals in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Australia. His recordings appear on the Pro Organo and JAV labels. Jared also helped to establish the Cathedral Music School for underserved students at Trinity. 

  I know that you will appreciate Jared’s musicianship, professionalism and warmth. Earlier this week, he said, “I am thrilled and humbled to be joining the Grace Cathedral community as your next canon director of music. Grace Cathedral is a landmark for excellence in music, and it will be my privilege to build on the good work that so many have done before me. The opportunity to lead such an historic choir in an environment of creativity and welcome is very rare, and I am excited to begin this work. I look forward to being part of the community and working together with you to help advance the work of Grace Cathedral.” 

 Jared is a graduate of Oberlin College, with degrees in English and organ performance. After graduation, he received a Watson Fellowship for conducting in London. He earned master’s and doctoral degrees from Yale University. Jared and his wife, psychologist Erin Johnson, and third-grade twins, Charlie and Sam, will be moving to San Francisco this summer. 

 I am grateful to the members of the search team, led by Vice Dean Greg Kimura and president of the choir guild, Asheley Linnenbach, to the Choir of Men and Boys and to the cathedral’s entire music department. Their leadership this year has been extraordinary. I am very proud of the quality of music at Grace Cathedral this year and feel especially grateful to Christopher Keady, our interim director and Gabriel Fanelli, our choirmaster who both served so faithfully. This search took place as we prepared for this summer’s ambitious choir tour to Austria – the first choir tour since England in 2016. 

 I am deeply grateful for the warm spirit of the cathedral community as we welcome Jared to Grace Cathedral. 

Love,
Malcolm

The Very Rev. Malcolm Clemens Young
Dean of Grace Cathedral