Meet Dr. Christopher Jackson, Artistic Director & Conductor

Meet Dr. Christopher Jackson, Artistic Director and Conductor

Christopher Jackson, our 7th Artistic Director & Conductor, joined us on July 1, as we began our 125th Season. While he is new to The Choir, his connections to Bach's music are significant and began many years ago. Read on for our lively Q&A with Christopher and please say hello at an upcoming concert!

How did you learn about The Bach Choir?

When I was a graduate student at Westminster Choir College, The Bach Choir of Bethlehem was "in the air" as a highly successful non-profit musical organization that those of us who were about to begin a career in choral conducting should look at for how / why they are successful.

Additionally, David Newman, one of The Choir's longtime and well-loved soloists, did a masterclass in 2010 for the singers at Westminster who were interested in early music. I did not recall this until our August Bach at Noon (only my second as the Conductor!), when suddenly the memory came flooding back to me. I was conducting David in that August concert and called him the night before to verify that he did actually teach me in that masterclass more than ten years ago! It was fun memory! David was (and still is) an amazing ambassador for The Bach Choir.

Where did you receive your musical training?

Until my senior year in high school, I hadn't taken any formal music lessons; until then I had just participated in School choir. I decided to take voice and piano lessons as a senior because I wanted to learn how to do both better. I really wanted to get into All-State Chorus before I graduated from high school.

I earned my Bachelor's Degree at Oklahoma State University, and it took 5.5 years to get that degree because I kept changing my mind about which type of music degree I wanted! For most of it, I was studying music education, but I also flirted with music history, music composition, conducting, and vocal performance.

Eventually, I chose a vocal performance degree because I wanted to sing early music and vocal chamber music for a living. I auditioned for the infamous Yale program and was a finalist but ultimately was not chosen to join the program that year (2006). That was the only vocal performance-related graduate degree I actually wanted.

I began teaching High School and Middle School Choir in Arizona in preparation to apply for a Master's Degree in conducting. (Earning that degree required teaching experience for a minimum of 3 years.) Just like my preference for studying at Yale, the conducting program at Westminster Choir College was the only program I actually wanted to attend…I was accepted and earned a Master's of Music in Conducting.

As I pursued degrees, I kept running into Bach Scholars – like Dr. Dirk Garner, my undergraduate mentor in conducting who is now director of the Baldwin Wallace Bach Festival (OSU) and Dr. Andrew McGill at Westminster, who conducts at the Carmel Bach Festival.

What led you to seeking and earning your Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting?

I wanted to have the option to teach at the collegiate level, and earned my DMA to be able to pursue that. It is nearly essential to have a DMA or PhD to teach in higher education.

Tell us about your career as a professional singer.

Most of my singing career has been in professional choral music, while I do occasionally perform as a soloist for choral and orchestral works. I’m a low bass, and often sing in one per part chamber choirs or professional choral ensembles such as Skylark.

My work with them over the last 8 years has been especially important – we’ve been nominated for three Grammy awards for best choral performance and have produced some really remarkable albums. We’ve been invited to perform at Royal Albert Hall to sing with some of the best choirs in the world. Singing in these types of ensembles has allowed me to work with some of the best singers and conductors in the country. This means I'm constantly learning from the other side of the podium.

What is it about Bach’s music that you particularly enjoy?

There is so much that I enjoy that I have to answer this with a couple of responses: He has such a combination of 4 things that I really think are present in the best music: craft, intent, intellect and emotion. When those 4 things are present, the results are life-changing.

There really isn’t anything formulaic or overly formulaic about Bach’s music despite how some people might attempt to categorize his music that way. There are always small details that make every individual piece unique.

Do you have a funny or interesting or powerful memory of performing

Bach’s music that you'd like to share?

I can tell you a very embarrassing story about auditioning for this job….When the time came to conduct Bach at Noon as a part of my interview, I put so much effort into writing my comments for the audience; every word was carefully constructed and placed. Then in front of a live audience, I got caught; you can either read it directly or summarize. I didn’t want a single word out of place so I tried to read while glancing up and I suddenly because so self-conscious and nervous that I basically rambled for 45 seconds. I thought I was done for.

But eventually I got to the point where I was talking about the details of the music as opposed to introductory remarks, etc. and at that point I just put my notes down and spoke passionately about the things I know well. Luckily, that was enough to bring me back. The worst 45 seconds of my professional career.

At Westminster, we prepared Bach's Magnificat for Conductor Helmut Rilling and I remember being part of a fine group of basses in the Choir. People who know the piece might recall the basses get really good melismas at the end of the opening and closing movements. For me, it was that feeling when you really, really nail a passage – and the bass section really nailed it - and everybody in that room knew it. Having that sense of exuberance at singing that part of the piece probably better than anyone could, and the experience of singing for Helmut Rilling was unquestionably one of the high points of my career.

Do you have a favorite moment in Mass in B Minor?

I have a couple: the Et in carnatus est – it sounds so simultaneously mysterious and full of the knowledge of suffering.

Et expecto section – of the Confiteor movement – because it has an exceptionally long section of harmonic instability and angst followed by a complete change of emotion in exuberant joy.

I love the opening movement because it’s hard for me to imagine a more profound example of the eternal presence of God.

If you could relive one musical moment of your life, what would it be?

In 2010, while I was student at Westminster, I sang Mahler’s Second Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. Why this moment? An incredible group of musicians made up the chorus, paired with one of our country’s best orchestras and conductors and it was my first time singing Mahler’s Second Symphony. The Chorus doesn’t get to come in until an hour and 20 minutes into the symphony and when they do, it’s one of the most cathartic moments in all of music.

What music do you look forward to conducting for the first time?

I have yet to conduct the Saint Matthew Passion. I’ve been asked by many lovely people within The Bach Choir family what my inexperience with these very large works means…There couldn't be another person who wants to apply themselves more fully to this opportunity. I have been waiting my entire conducting career for this moment. What I want people to know is that my excitement, joy, anticipation and desire to know these scores inside and out – this is what The Choir, Orchestra, and audiences will feel when I finally get to stand on the podium and lead these works.

You knew this was next: What piece of music do you never need to play again?

The Pachelbel Canon in D. Just don’t need to hear it. If you meet a stranger and tell them you’re a classical musician people immediately begin to speak about it.

Other than Bach, what classical composer or favorite musician would you want to see if you could travel in time? What would you want to hear and why?

Benjamin Britten. It’s hard to pick but perhaps the War Requiem or Peter Grimes (Opera.) Britten is certainly one of my most favorite composers because I find those qualities we listed earlier so apparent in his music. But why the War Requiem? Because of its unique place in 20th century history. For the premiere, he wanted soloists from England, Germany and the USSR - meant to demonstrate the horrors of war that are universal and for him to bring together soloists from these countries was extremely moving and important. He tended to do this with his compositions – find a way to connect them to the real world in a way that was profoundly meaningful.

Last musical question: What is your guilty pleasure when it comes to music?

I don’t feel a lot of guilt for liking any style of music or composer. I think everything in the right context if done well is worthy of our attention. Growing up in Oklahoma, and personally liking folk music, I listen to older country, and different genres of folk - like from the Canadian singer songwriter Stan Rogers to the Carolina Chocolate Drops. I listen to pop, rock and virtually anything else you can think of. I love all music.

While I do listen to a lot of classical music, it’s certainly not what I listen to when I want to unwind.

Let's talk a little about your family, growing up in the Midwest and your life here in the Lehigh Valley.

I grew up in Stillwater, Oklahoma and my parents didn’t finish college because they had me! They worked hard so I could go to school and study music; and always let me know that I could study what I wanted.

They are probably the reason I got into classical music although they aren’t classical musicians themselves. My father's family lived 3.5 hours away and we visited very frequently. He had one cassette of Beethoven and we would listen to it nearly every trip. He and I got to know it so well - I became intimately aware of the ten pieces on that cassette - that we would whistle all of the melodic lines. We would take turns as the melodic lines moved from instrument to instrument. Such a great thing for us to do on those trips; and Beethoven was my first favorite composer.

Because I showed an interest in classical music, I started buying discs of Beethoven and my mother signed me up for the Time Life Great Composers series so starting at about age 13 or 14, I got a new CD every month. I looked forward to it and would consume each new CD so fast. This is how they paved the way, despite me never taking lessons, but it showed their dedication to wanting me to study what I loved and putting this music in my path.

I have two siblings that are significantly younger than I – my brother is 12 years younger, and my little sister is 22 years younger!

My wife, Katelyn, and I are newlyweds. We were married in May up in Penobscot, Maine, and we just closed on our first house in the West end of Allentown on September 6th!

Our relationship blossomed during the pandemic, but we had actually met each other nearly a year before when we were both contracted for a professional choral concert down in Washington, D.C. Katelyn is a professional singer and also works in Stewardship and Donor Relations at the University of Maryland. We have two cats, love to spend our time cooking and reading, and are really excited to finally both be relocated to the Lehigh Valley area and for me to begin my tenure with The Bach Choir.

What do you enjoy in your personal time?

I love to cook. I’m not as detailed as some of the other Bach Choir members who love cooking but it’s an incredible release for me and another outlet for creativity.

I also enjoy reading poetry, psychology and philosophy.