Jared Ostermann is the Director of Music at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Sioux Falls, SD; a landmark church designed by French architect Emmanuel Masqueray, completed in 1919, and fully restored in 2009-2011. Jared earned his doctorate at the University of Kansas, where he studied organ with James Higdon, Church Music with Michael Bauer, and conducting with Paul Tucker. He received his Master of Sacred Music degree in 2009 from the University of Notre Dame, where he studied with Craig Cramer. His Bachelor of Music in Church Music is from the University of Kansas (2007), where he studied organ, harpsichord, and choral conducting with Michael Bauer. He also studied for one year with Peter Planyavsky at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria.
As a concert organist, Jared has been awarded prizes at numerous prestigious competitions, including the Canadian International Organ Competition in Montreal, Quebec, the Miami International Organ Competition, the John R. Rodland Scholarship Competition, the San Marino Organ Competition, and the Augustana/Reuter National Undergraduate Competition. As a result of his prizes in Miami and Montreal, his playing has been featured on the nationally-syndicated radio program Pipedreams.
Jared began work as a church musician at the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas. During his year of study in Vienna, Jared was the organist and music director for Vienna’s English Speaking Catholic Community. During his time at Notre Dame, Jared worked with Alexander Blachly as the graduate conducting assistant of the Notre Dame Chorale. In 2010 he founded Sursum Corda, a Kansas City-area choir specializing in Renaissance Polyphony. Under his guidance, this choir became an active presence in northeast Kansas, bringing liturgical music and concerts to parishes throughout the Archdiocese of Kansas City. At the Cathedral of Saint Joseph he oversees all liturgical music and conducts three adult choirs, with repertoire ranging from Gregorian chant to choral-orchestral major works. He also serves as Artistic Director of the Cathedral Sacred Arts Series, which regularly brings outstanding local, national, and international talent to Sioux Falls in the superb acoustic and artistic environment of the Cathedral.
Jared and his wife Barbara live in Sioux Falls with their three children, Sophia, Dominic, and Lillian.