Christopher Jackson

DR. CHRISTOPHER JACKSON, now in his third season, is the seventh Artistic Director and Conductor of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem. He has worked for 18 years as a conductor, educator, professional singer, and scholar. Throughout his career, he has led numerous collegiate, professional, and amateur ensembles across the United States, and he works frequently as a guest conductor for orchestras, choirs, and music festivals. His ensembles have toured China, Canada, and the con- tinental United States. During his tenure at Lycoming College in Williamsport, PA, he co-founded the Lycoming Baroque Choir and Orchestra and designed academic courses that allowed students to travel to Germany and explore links between Baroque music, art, and architecture. He has taught courses and master classes in conducting, music theory, music history, vocal methods and pedagogy, and Baroque performance practice and has been a guest artist and lecturer at the San Juan Conservatory, the Coro de Niños de San Juan, and the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival. He was nominated as a finalist for the American Prize in Virtual Performance for his work with the Muhlenberg College choral ensembles during the Covid-19 pandemic. Jackson remains an active professional choral singer and soloist, with focuses in the Baroque, Renaissance, and Modern eras. As a member of the Boston-based cham- ber choir Skylark, he has appeared on three GRAMMY-nominated albums (Best Choral Performance) and also serves as the ensemble’s Director of Education. In that position, he helped design free materials for music educators across the country to use for virtual music-making. He has per- formed with the GRAMMY award-winning ensemble Roomful of Teeth, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Artefact Ensemble, Les Canards Chantants, and Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity Lutheran in New York City. Jackson received his Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance from Oklahoma State University, studying conducting under Dr. Dirk Garner (Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival). He received his Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Westminster Choir College and was the graduate assistant conductor of the Westminster Symphonic Choir under Dr. Joe Miller and Dr. Amanda Quist, as well as studying with Dr. Andrew Megill (Carmel Bach, Illinois Bach Academy). He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from the University of North Texas, studying with Dr. Jerry McCoy and Dr. Richard Sparks. His areas of research include the programming and per- formance of Baroque and Renaissance music for choirs of all ages and levels of experience, as well as the choral music of Benjamin Britten.