JIEUN KIM NEWLAND is an organist and harpsichordist working in El Paso, Texas and Las Cruces New Mexico.
A native of Seoul, South Korea, Jieun started piano at the age of six and had her first organ lesson at thirteen. Her music studies brought her to The United States in 1999.
Jieun holds a bachelor’s degree from the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri—Kansas City, studied organ with John Ditto and holds a master’s degree from the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University. While at Yale Jieun studied organ under Thomas Murray, organ improvisation with Jeffrey Brillhart, and harpsichord and early music with Richard Rephann.
Jieun began her career in Church Music at Grace and Holy Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Kansas City, Missouri where she served three terms as Resident Organ Scholar and assisted Canon Musician John Schafer with organ performance, choral rehearsal, and selection of liturgical pieces for worship.
Upon finishing her master’s degree, Jieun served as Director of Music and Organist at Episcopal, Presbyterian, and United Church of Christ churches in Madison, Connecticut; Mercer Island, Washington; and Fort Collins, Colorado. She was a founding member of The Obbligato Players, an early music trio ensemble of violin, recorder, and continuo organ based in Seattle, Washington.
While she was Hawai‘i, Jieun has collaborated with Early Music Hawai‘i, the Honolulu Brass Ensemble, Hawai‘i Vocal Arts Ensemble, the Kona Choral Society, the Windward Choral Society, the O’ahu Choral Society, U.S. Pacific Fleet Band , and ¡Sacabuche!. She has served at Nu‘uanu Congregational Church as organist and substituted occasionally at Lutheran Church of Honolulu, Kawaiaha’o Church, Central Union Church and St. Andrew’s Cathedral.
She is currently serving as Music Minister and Organist at Peace Lutheran (ELCA) Church in Las Cruces, New Mexico. She collaborates with The University of Texas at El Paso, New Mexico State University and is working with early music instrumentalists in the greater South West area.
Sprezzatura 