Named to The Diapason magazine’s Class of 20 Under 30 in 2021, Dr. John Joseph “JJ” Mitchell is a musician with passion for organ, choral, and sacred music. He is the Director of Music at St. John Neumann Church in Reston, VA where he leads a robust music program from both the conducting podium and the organ bench. Musical elements in the church’s liturgies are diverse, with repertoire ranging from traditional hymnody and Renaissance polyphony to Gospel anthems and Taizé prayer. He also works at Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C. where he teaches piano and organ students and accompanies the school choirs.

An in-demand musician in the DC metropolitan area, JJ earned a Doctorate in Musical Arts in Organ Performance with a minor in Arts Leadership from the University of Houston on a full-ride Graduate Tuition Fellowship in May 2023 at the age of twenty-eight. Previously, JJ graduated Summa Cum Laude from Westminster Choir College with a bachelor’s degree in Sacred Music. He then earned his Master of Sacred Music degree in Organ Performance from the University of Notre Dame, where he attended on another full-tuition scholarship. He also studied at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Toulouse (France).