Music Staff

Dr. Carlton Monroe

Director of Music

Dr. Monroe is Director of Music at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Terrace Park, Ohio, where, in addition to leading an active choral program for children and adults, he established and conducts the Bach Ensemble, a professional ensemble of instrumentalists and vocalists who perform services, concerts and educational retreats centered on the music of J. S. Bach.

As a conductor and music educator he has taught at every level from elementary to college, including positions at Ursuline Academy and Walnut Hills High School in Cincinnati, Miami University (OH), and Georgia College & State University. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He has previously served on the boards of the Cincinnati Choral Consortium and was a regional chair with the Association of Anglican Musicians. He currently serves on the board of the Burden Foundation, which supports the work of the Burden Museum and Gardens in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He is a member of the Board of Trustees with Cincinnati Country Day School, and Chair of the Arts Alliance at CCDS. He lives in Cincinnati with his wife Jennifer, contrabassoonist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and their children Jack and Catherine.

Dr. Jason M. Gunnell

Associate Director of Music & Organist

Dr. Jason M. Gunnell is the Associate Director of Music and Organist at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Terrace Park, Ohio, where he assists in leading a large and dynamic parish music program. A native of Idaho, Jason received his Bachelor of Musical Arts at Brigham Young University-Idaho, studying with Daniel Kerr, James Drake, and Darwin Wolford. He received his Master of Music in Organ Performance and Church Music from the University of Kansas, studying with James Higdon. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Organ Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, studying with Roberta Gary and Michael Unger. Dr. Gunnell was the winner of the 2011 Strader Organ Competition held in Cincinnati, Ohio and was a finalist for the post of Tabernacle Organist of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 2017.

Dr. Gunnell has extensive experience as a church musician, choir conductor, and organist, serving in churches in Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, and Ohio. Dr. Gunnell actively serves in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in many music capacities and has served in the Church of Jesus Christ in music capacities for over 30 years. Dr. Gunnell has performed in many venues throughout the United States and Hungary and has taught private organ lessons and courses in music theory and history at the collegiate level. Dr. Gunnell actively recitals in the famed Mormon Tabernacle and the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah as a Guest Organist at Temple Square, playing on the world-famous V/206 Aeolian Skinner Organ in the Mormon Tabernacle and the V/130 Schoenstein Organ in the Conference Center. He is also a member of the Bach Ensemble at St. Thomas, performing major organ works and cantatas of J. S. Bach. Dr. Gunnell currently serves as an officer in the Cincinnati Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

Dr. Gunnell resides in Cincinnati with his family. He is happily married to his wife, Kate. They are the parents of seven boys, Grant, Mitch, Brigham, William, Clark, Russell, and Hyrum, and a daughter, Ava.