ABOUT

Jonathan Thomas Madden (b. 1998) is a musician from Rochester, NY. He currently serves as the Director of Music at University Presbyterian Church in Rochester Hills, MI, and is pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor).

 

From 2020-2025, he served as Director of Music at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (Pittsford) and was on the faculty of the Hochstein School as Assistant Director and Composer-in-Residence for the Hochstein Youth Singers. Previously, Jon taught vocal music and choir at McQuaid Jesuit High School, and served as Assistant Director for the choirs of Nazareth University (Brian Stevens, director), First Inversion (Lee Wright, director), and the Eastman/Christ Church Schola Cantorum (Stephen Kennedy, director). He also held membership in the Eastman Rochester Chorus and the early music ensemble Musica Spei.

 

Jon’s compositions have been finalists in the 2022 ACDA Pearl Prize Competition (Shall We Gather at the River)  and the 2023 American Prize (Music, when soft voices die). His writing for SSA ensembles has been recognized by the 2023 ACDA Focus Prize (honorable mention, The Gift to Sing) and the 2019 ACDA Brock Student Composition Competition (2nd place, The Lord is my Light).

 

Jon received his Bachelor of Music Degree in Composition from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, where he sang with and was an ensemble pianist for the internationally renowned St. Olaf Choir. He received the Masters of Music Degree in Choral Conducting and was awarded the Graduate Teaching Assistant Prize for his teaching of first-year aural skills from the Eastman School of Music.

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Jon is proud to be a student of Christopher Atzinger, Anton Armstrong, James E.Bobb, Therees Hibbard, Timothy Mahr, Brian Preston, Eugene Rogers, S Joshua Sheppard, Janet Stadt, Emery Stevens, and William Weinert, among many other compassionate and generous people.