Isaacs

Robert Isaacs of New York City has been appointed director of choral music in the Department of Music effective July 1. His responsibilities include overseeing all four choirs at Cornell, and conducting the Cornell Glee Club and Chorus beginning with concerts during fall 2013 Orientation.

Isaacs succeeds Scott Tucker, the former Priscilla Edwards Browning Director of Choral Music. Tucker directed the Glee Club and Chorus at Cornell for 17 years and was named artistic director of the Choral Arts Society of Washington, D.C., last March.

"Under Scott the program increased its already-important national reputation, so whoever we appointed in his place had to be somebody with the potential of taking it from such stature and bringing it to a higher level," said Steve Pond, associate professor and chair of the Department of Music. "Robert Isaacs we believe has that. He's been interim director of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, which has a world-renowned reputation. He brings that sensibility and that sense of accomplishment -- and our choral program welcomes him with the greatest enthusiasm."

As an undergraduate at Harvard University, Isaacs designed his own major in choral music and sang in the Harvard Glee Club when Tucker was an assistant choral director there.

"Scott leaves big shoes to fill, but I'm delighted to be stepping into a program that's so vibrant and healthy," he said. "There's so much that's top-notch, starting with the quality of the music making under Tom Sokol, Scott Tucker and this year, John Rowehl. Cornell choirs are highly regarded around the nation, and have great support from the music department and alumni, and a remarkable tradition of thoughtful, substantive student leadership."

Isaacs graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1992 and earned an M.F.A. in creative writing in 2002 from Columbia University. He has written for The New York Times and other newspapers.

He has been associated with the National Youth Choir of Great Britain since 1993 and is currently its guest musical director. Previous positions include acting director of choral activities at Princeton University (2009-10) and director of choral activities at the Manhattan School of Music (2000-08), in addition to serving as guest conductor with many ensembles in New York and the United Kingdom.

His resume as a singer includes performance collaborations with the Mark Morris Dance Group on a Moscow production of "Dido and Aeneas," a Carnegie Hall concert with the late jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, and Christmas concerts with Peter Schickele (P.D.Q. Bach). He received a Grammy Award nomination in 2006 as a member of the Tiffany Consort, and regularly tours and records with Pomerium, the Clarion Music Society, Vox Vocal Ensemble and other New York choirs.

Isaacs has taught voice for more than 20 years, privately and at the City University of New York and the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. Before that he was a street performer, supporting himself as a juggler and unicyclist in San Francisco.

"Looking forward, I'm interested in raising the national and international profile of Cornell's choirs," Isaacs said. "Cornell should be the first place that comes to mind when people think about college singing."