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Craig D. Jessop [1] (born 1949) is an American academic, musician and singer best known for his tenure as the music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (Choir) from 1999 to 2008.
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Craig D. Jessop [1] (born 1949) is an American academic, musician and singer best known for his tenure as the music director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (Choir) from 1999 to 2008.
A native of Millville, Utah, Jessop has been a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He was a student of Robert Shaw and received a B.A. from Utah State University (USU), M.A. from Brigham Young University (BYU), and D.M.A. from Stanford University.
He has been the director of the National High School Choir Festival since its founding in 2005. The event, held at New York's Carnegie Hall, auditions schools from around the country to inspire and enable young singers in learning great works of music and performing with renowned musicians from around the world.
He has also spent seven years as a baritone with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers and performed in the choirs of Helmuth Rilling and John Rutter.
Prior to his association with the Choir, Jessop had a distinguished career as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force, where he was director of the Singing Sergeants (1979–1987), commander/conductor, Band of the United States Air Forces in Europe (1987–91), conductor for Ramstein Community Choir/Rheinpfalz Community Choir (1988–91) [2] and commander/conductor of the Air Combat Command Heartland of American Band (1991–95).
He began his career in education as director of choral activities at Granite High School in Salt Lake City.
Jessop was named Associate Director of the Choir in 1995 and became its director in 1999. Under Jessop's direction the Choir won many awards, including the Special Recognition Award from the International Radio and Television Society Foundation and a National Medal of Arts presented by George W. Bush. He served in that position until suddenly resigning on March 4, 2008. At an evening rehearsal he appeared long enough to read a statement, to the surprise and confusion of choir members and community members. [3] Jessop explained he was "at a major crossroads of life" and would return to "the career that I originally began [in] my musical journey" and spend "more time together with our children and grandsons." [4]
Jessop and his wife have four children and eleven grandchildren.
Jessop became head of the Music Department at USU, in Logan, Utah, on May 5, 2008. [5] He also began directing the American Festival Chorus, a new 270-member choir headquartered at USU. The choir performed with the USU Symphony Orchestra on November 11, 2008 in a Veteran's Day tribute. On November 15, 2008, the American Festival Chorus and Orchestra debuted with a performance of Mozart's Requiem. On February 28, 2009, Jessop was invited to guest conduct a special concert with BYU's choirs. [6] On April 2, 2010, USU announced [7] that Jessop would become the first dean of the Caine College of the Arts (CCA), created out of a split of the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences into two colleges: CCA and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Since 2011, Jessop has served as Artistic Director for National Memorial Day Choral Festival held annually in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, sponsored by Music Celebrations International and the American Veterans Center. An uplifting and inspired program of patriotic music is selected each year by Jessop and is performed by choirs from around the United States to honor veterans past and present.
On December 22, 2012, Jessop conducted Joy to the World Christmas Musical Celebration Hosted by LDS Church in central Oklahoma. The 60-member orchestra and 300 choir members are volunteers from many faiths in central Oklahoma, with the core membership drawn from 44 Latter-day Saint congregations.
From November 19–21, 2014, Jessop directed 440 of Nebraska's best choir members in the Nebraska Music Educators Association All-State Choir at the annual NMEA conference. [8]
On November 16, 2015, Jessop conducted a concert called Through The Eyes Of A Child in Columbus, Ohio with the Hilliard Darby Symphonic Choir, Una Voce and the Columbus Children's Choir. The pieces included Count Your Blessings from White Christmas, Mass of the Children by John Rutter and When You Wish upon a Star from Disney's Pinocchio.
On April 10, 2017, Jessop conducted at the WorldStrides Festival of Gold Honor Choir and Honor Orchestra in San Francisco. He conducted children in middle and high school at this prestigious event. This event took place at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall and the group performed "Proud To Serve".
In August 2018, after nearly 11 years as dean, Jessop announced his resignation from the CCA, effective June 1, 2019. He was replaced by Rachel Nardo. [9] The announcement stated his plans to return in the fall of 2020 as a professor after a sabbatical. [10]
Michael Lynn Ballam is an American opera singer, educator, and arts administrator.
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The Orchestra at Temple Square (Orchestra) is a 110-member orchestra based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Orchestra was created in 1999 under the direction of Gordon B. Hinckley, then the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as part of an initiative to continually strengthen and expand the capabilities of the church's music organizations.
Mack J. Wilberg is an American composer, arranger, conductor, and choral clinician who has been the music director of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square (Choir) since 2008.
Jerold Don Ottley was an American music director and choral conductor. He served as the director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (Choir) from 1974 to 1999. During his tenure, he established the Choir's annual Christmas concert and appointed its first female organist. Prior to that, he was assistant chair of the University of Utah's Music Department.
Anthony Canute Lund was the director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City, Utah from 1916 until 1935. Lund was also a professor of music at Brigham Young University.
The choirs at Brigham Young University (BYU) consist of four auditioned groups: BYU Singers, BYU Concert Choir, BYU Men's Chorus, and BYU Women's Chorus. Each choir is highly accomplished and performs from an extensive repertoire. Together, the choirs have recorded and released over 30 albums. The choirs perform frequently throughout the academic year, both as individual ensembles as well as a combined group.
Richard P. Condie was the conductor of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City, Utah from 1957 to 1974.
Crawford Marion Gates was an American musician, composer, and conductor known for his contributions to the body of music for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Kory Katseanes is a Professor of Music and the Director of Orchestras at the BYU School of Music and was the director of the School of Music from 2009-2015. Brigham Young University (BYU) The orchestra program at BYU is one of the largest collegiate orchestra programs in the United States. He has also been a guest conductor for multiple orchestras.
Ryan T. Murphy has been the associate music director of The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square since 2009, working with music director Mack Wilberg. Murphy's previous positions have included directing choirs at the New England Conservatory of Music and the Walnut Hill School for the Arts. He has also been music director at the Tuacahn Amphitheatre and Center for the Arts and the Sundance Institute in Provo.
Andrew Keith Wailes is an Australian conductor and music director. Winner of the Australasian International Choral Conducting Competition in Brisbane in 1999, he is the current artistic director and Chief Conductor of the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, Principal Conductor of the Melbourne University Choral Society, and music director and Conductor of the Box Hill Chorale. From 1999 to 2020 he served as artistic director of The Australian Children's Choir, and for a decade was Director of the Australian Catholic University Melbourne Campus Choir. He is a former president of the Australian Intervarsity Choral Societies Association, and is a former Artistic Administrator and artistic director of The Chamber Strings of Melbourne.
Robert Milton Cundick Sr. was a Latter-day Saint composer. Cundick's interest in music started at a young age, and he studied under Mormon Tabernacle organist Alexander Schreiner and later under Leroy J. Robertson. He also served for many years as an organist at the Salt Lake Tabernacle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This included accompanying the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and playing organ solos on the weekly broadcast, Music & the Spoken Word. Cundick served in World War II and enrolled at the University of Utah where he received his BFA, MFA, and PhD. He joined the music faculty at Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1957 but his work there was interrupted due to various callings by LDS Church leaders. After his retirement, Cundick continued to contribute to music in the LDS Church. In his personal life, he married his organ student Charlotte Clark while he was a student at the University of Utah. He died in 2016 at the age of 89.
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List of recordings of Johannes Brahms' A German Requiem, Op. 45 (1868).
Stephen M. Jones is an American professor of music composition at Brigham Young University (BYU) and former Dean of the BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications. Among his works is the music for the hymn "When Faith Endures", which is included in the current English-language edition of the LDS hymnal. His chamber, choral and orchestral music has been commissioned and performed by the Chicago Symphony, the Utah Symphony, the Utah Arts Festival, the Beijing Modern Music Festival, The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, and many others.
The O.C. Tanner Gift of Music is a series of free concerts presented in Salt Lake City by the Utah Symphony and the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, with soloists, conductors and other choirs as guests. The concerts have been hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Temple Square since 1983. The thirtieth anniversary gala concerts were held September 6 and 7, 2013.
Jake Runestad is an American composer and conductor of classical music based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has composed music for a wide variety of musical genres and ensembles, but has achieved greatest acclaim for his work in the genres of opera, orchestral music, choral music, and wind ensemble. One of his principal collaborators for musical texts has been Todd Boss.
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