Mr.
Isaiah Jackson is a black American musician at the apex of his career. His conductorial
and leadership skills are sought and utilized by cultural institutions around
the world.
A cum laude Harvard University
graduate, he holds advanced degrees from Stanford University and Juilliard School
of Music as well as having had unique educational experiences at Fontainebleau,
Aspen and Tanglewood.
While at Juilliard, Mr. Leopold
Stokowski, conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra, made Jackson his assistant
and later appointed him music director of the New York Youth Symphony Orchestra.
In 1973, Mr. Leonard Bernstein recommended that Mr. Jackson become artistic
director of the Vienna Youth Music Festival in Austria.
Mr. Jackson made musical
history in 1 986, when he became the first American to serve as principal conductor
of the Royal Ballet at England's Convent Gardens. He was music director at the
Royal Ballet from 1 981 to 1990. This inspiring conductor has formed creative
relationships with many musical groups. He had led many distinguished American
symphony orchestras including the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic and
the San Francisco and Detroit Symphonies, as well as orchestras in Europe and
Australia, where he was a visiting conductor during the summer of 1991.
Currently music director
for the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Mr. Jackson's outstanding contributions
to music have brought him many awards and honors. Recently Harvard's Signet
Society awarded him its medal of achievement. He now joins on illustrious company
of recipients that include poets: T.S. Elliot, Robert Frost and Robert Lowell.
