Jennifer Kerr Budziak is a Chicago area liturgical musician, author, conductor, and cantor and is a widely published and recorded composer and arranger of liturgical music.

During her years as director for Liturgical Music at the Office for Divine Worship, Jennifer served as conductor and cantor at many Chicago-area liturgical events and choral festivals. Jennifer has been involved in a number of Chicago area ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony Chorus and the Cathedral Singers. She has served on the choral faculty at St. Xavier University, North Central College, and Concordia University of Chicago and currently conducts the Women’s Chorus at Loyola University. She authored Sight-Sing a New Song, a textbook on sight-singing and music notation for beginners and Sowing Seeds, Bearing Fruit: A Five Year Process for Growing a Singing Congregation, released in July of 2012, and is a frequent writer for Liturgy Training Publications on topics of music and liturgy. 

As Editor for Music Formation Resources at GIA, she works to compile, edit, and author materials in the service of pastoral musicians who seek to continue their formation and education as ministers of music. She serves on the National Council of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians and is a frequent presenter at the organization’s regional and national conferences. Jennifer is currently Director of Youth Music at Old St. Patrick’s Church in Chicago.

Jennifer holds a doctorate in choral conducting from Northwestern University, a Masters’ Degree in Choral Conducting from Indiana University and a Masters’ Degree in Theology from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Her areas of research involve liminal studies in postmodern music and the application of qualitative research techniques to choral rehearsal and other community music settings.