About Jeremy
Jeremy Kiolbassa is an organist, composer, and Chicago native. His fascination with sacred music and the organ began in his formative years at St. Hyacinth Catholic School in Avondale, Chicago. In childhood he demonstrated a natural ability to play by ear, though his abilities developed without formal training into adolescence. As a teen, he taught himself to read music while continuing to play by ear and improvise.
His formal musical training began relatively late as he attended Whitney Young High School in Chicago. He gained a great love for choral repertoire during this time, singing under the baton of two great conductors, Scott Arkenberg and Gloria Brown. He went on to attend VanderCook College of Music to study music education. He studied applied piano performance in the studio of Ms. Marianne Krupa and choral conducting with Dr. Robert Sinclair. After graduation, he had the privilege of studying organ with Dr. Elizabeth Naegele at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Jeremy’s ear and natural ability have manifested a love for improvisation and composition. He often composes music for the choirs and people of Saint Clement. In 2019, his setting of The Reproaches was published by GIA Inc. Most recently, his Mass for Lincoln Park made its public debut.
Jeremy served as music director at St. Benedict Parish in Chicago for nine years. During this time his choirs performeded several major works, including Fauré’s Requiem, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, and John Rutter’s Mass of the Children. His choir toured Ireland in 2018. He joined the Saint Clement staff in February 2022. In his short tenure, the parish music program has seen a period of growth in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, built upon the legacy of great music at the parish. He currently serves as Programming Chair for the Chicago chapter of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NPM).