Gregory Sullivan Isaacs Biography

Gregory Sullivan Isaacs lives in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. His career has included positions as music director with West Coast Opera (Los Angeles), Downers Grove Oratorio Society (Chicago), Southeast Symphony (Los Angeles), Los Angeles Orchestral Ensemble, and the Pasadena Festival Chorus and Orchestra. In addition to working on the staff of Seattle Opera from time to time, he is active as a guest conductor.

His academic work includes a masters degree from Indiana University, with undergraduate work at the University of Miami and the University of Michigan, with a high school diploma from the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy. Isaacs’ teachers have included conductors Thor Johnson, Tibor Kozma, Frederick Fennell, Lee Kjelson, and Mayard Klein; composers Leslie Basset and Ross Lee Finney; pianist Ivan Davis; violinist Josef Knitzer; and singers Martha Lipton, Barre Hill, and Pierre Bernac. Other professional training brought him advanced study with Samuel Jones, Gunther Schuler, Michael Charry, Margaret Hillis, and Sergiu Commisiona. A life-long student, he has coached scores with Fritz Zweig and by invitation audited Gustav Meier’s doctoral conducting class at the University of Michigan.

His most recent compositions include a new piece for English Horn and orchestra for Glen Danielson, of the Seattle Symphony, which will be published with DemiQ Music immediately after the premier in October, 1998. His commissions have come from organizations as varied as Chicago Area PTA, the US Bicentennial Committee, Detroit’s historic Fort Street Church, Southern Florida’s Christ Church, and Brazil’s Chorale Nobile.

He is a popular lecturer, presenting intriguing views on music before audiences from the Tennessee Williams Fine Arts Center in Florida to the pre-concert lectures at the Seattle Symphony, where he is an audience favorite. Professional memberships include the American Symphony Orchestra League, Conductor’s Guild, A.S.C.A.P., and the American Music Center.