Brenda Portman, Organist

Brenda Portman

Organist

Brenda Portman (b. 1980) has established a well-respected dual career as both a concert organist and composer. She serves as the Resident Organist at Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she is also the Executive Director of the church’s renowned Organ Concert Series.  She is the Organ Instructor at Xavier University in Cincinnati and also teaches organ and piano privately.

Between the years 2006 and 2016, Brenda received numerous awards in organ competitions, including the Albert Schweitzer Organ Competition, Arthur Poister Organ Competition, Sursa American Organ Competition, Rodgers North American Classical Organ Competition, and the Bank District British/American Organ Competition which concluded with a winner’s recital at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.  In October 2014 she was the only female American organist to compete in the prestigious Canadian International Organ Competition in Montréal.  Her performance there led to a collaboration with acclaimed Canadian composer Rachel Laurin and a recording entitled "Pilgrimages: Organ Music of Rachel Laurin Inspired by Sacred Themes," which was released in 2016 on the Raven label.

Some of Portman’s compositions have won awards as well, in competitions hosted by the Twin Cities AGO in 2016 (Elegy for organ), the Washington D.C. AGO in 2019 (Monument for organ), the University of Notre Dame in 2019 (Laudate Dominum for SSA/organ), the Palm Beach AGO in 2024 (Prelude on “Love Unknown” for organ), and the AGO Woman Composer Competition in 2025 (Diptych for organ).  She is frequently commissioned to write new works for solo organ, organ-plus-instrument, and choir; recent commissions include conventions of the American Guild of Organists and Association of Anglican Musicians, and various musicians and churches across the country. Her compositions are primarily published by Sacred Music Press and Augsburg Fortress, though others are self-published.

In 2017 Dr. Portman was awarded the AAGO certificate (Associate of the American Guild of Organists) and received the AAGO Prize for the highest exam score, as well as the S. Lewis Elmer Award for the highest score on both the AAGO and FAGO exams combined.