Sarah Svendsen

Past laureate of the Royal Canadian College of Organist’s (RCCO) National Organ Playing Competition, organist Sarah Svendsen is a recent graduate of the Yale School of Music and co-founder of/performer in Organized Crime Duo. Sarah specializes in the performance of Canadian organ works and most recently (2014) performed the English debut of the work “Voices” by Canadian/Scottish composer, Eric Robertson. Sarah had her American concertizing debut at the St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church Concert Series on February 13, 2015 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, following which composer and organist, Jeff Donnelly, commented on public media, “A recital this evening [which] can only be described as sublime.” Sarah will make her symphonic debut later this September with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra playing the Joseph Jongen Organ Concerto. 

Sarah is an avid supporter of organ education and, along with sitting on the RCCO National Strategic Planning Committee as well as the RCCO National Communications Committee, she also performs educational outreach concerts to support her cause.

In the fall of 2014 the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) released a video recording of Sarah playing Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in d minor on its YouTube channel. Most recently, in June of 2015, Sarah was part of the CBC Radio 2 broadcast of R. Murray Schafer’s Apocalypsis as the sole organ in an ensemble of over 1000, under conductor David Fallis. Some of Sarah’s other engagements have included the Truro Cathedral Lunchtime Concert Series (U.K.), the Stratford Summer Music Festival, and the Copenhagen International Organ Festival.

Sarah is currently pursuing a DMA in Organ Performance at her alma mater, the University of Toronto, under Dr. Patricia Wright. Sarah holds a Master’s degree in organ from the Yale School of Music where she studied with Professor Thomas Murray. This degree was in conjunction with the Yale Institute of Sacred Music where she completed the Institute’s Church Music Diploma. For the 2013/14 Yale academic year, Sarah was the organist for Battell Chapel, Yale University Church. From 2009 until 2014, Sarah was the assistant at Toronto’s Metropolitan United Church, known for housing the largest pipe organ in Canada. Sarah was born and raised in rural Nova Scotia, Canada.