Pacific Collegium Artist Profiles

Susan Jane Matthews Organist

Susan Jane Matthews is Director of Music at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Burlingame, California where she serves as organist and directs the Chancel Choir and Choristers, the latter affiliated with the Royal School of Church Music. She has served as Director of Music at St. Michael’s Episcopal Cathedral, Boise, Idaho and as Principal Organist of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco. During her four-year tenure at Grace Cathedral, she recorded frequently with the Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys and in September 2004, Gothic Recordings released her first solo organ CD, Chosen Tunes from Grace Cathedral.

Dr. Matthews completed her Masters of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts in organ performance and literature at the Eastman School of Music as a student of David Higgs. The winner of the 1998 John R. Rodland Memorial Scholarship Competition in New Jersey, she also received First Place in the 1993 American Guild of Organists Region III Competition for Young Organists in Wilmington, Delaware. She enjoys a full concert schedule, and has presented solo recitals throughout the United States and at St.-Sulpice, Paris.

Dr. Matthews is Dean of the San Francisco Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and has served as Dean of the Les Bois Chapter (Boise) and as a faculty member at the San Francisco Chapter 2005 Pipe Organ Encounter. At the 2003 AGO Regional Convention in Salt Lake City, she served as organist for the opening service and presented a lecture recital on the legendary French organist Jeanne Demessieux. In both July 2000 and 2006, she served as an organist at the Royal School of Church Music training course at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.