Artistic Directors

Dr. Craig Jessop is Professor of Music and the founding Dean for the Caine College of the Arts at Utah State University. These appointments follow Dr. Jessop’s distinguished tenure as music director of the world famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Head of the Department of Music at Utah State. He is the founder and Music Director of the American Festival Chorus and Orchestra which in 2018 celebrated their 10th anniversary with a critically acclaimed tour to England including performances at Ely Cathedral, Coventry Cathedral and Holy Trinity Church, Sloan Square, London. He has served as the music director of the Carnegie Hall National High School Choral Festival sponsored by the Weill Institute of Music at Carnegie Hall. Prior to his appointment with the Tabernacle Choir, Dr. Jessop was a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force music programs, where he served as director of the U.S. Air Force Singing Sergeants in Washington, D.C. (1980-1987); as commander and conductor of the Band of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe at Ramstein, Germany (1987-1991); and as commander and conductor of the Air Combat Command Heartland of America Band (1991-1995). He has also been music director of the Maryland Choral Society, the Rhineland-Pfalz International Choir of Germany and the Omaha Symphonic Chorus.

Dr. Jessop has a Bachelor of Science from Utah State University, 1973; Master of Arts from Brigham Young University, 1976; and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting from Stanford University, 1980.

In 2018 Dr. Jessop received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement in Arts Education from the Sorenson Legacy Awards for Excellence in Arts Education. In 2017 Dr. Jessop was named the Educator Laureate by Distinguished Concerts International New York at Carnegie Hall. In 2016 he received the Governor’s Leadership in the Arts Award, the highest award in the Arts from the State of Utah, from Governor Gary Herbert as well as the Art Administrator of the Year Award at the National Convention of the College Orchestra Director’s Association (CODA) in Salt Lake City. In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the cultural life of Utah, Dr. Jessop received the 2014 Governor’s Mansion Performing Artist Award bestowed by Governor Gary Herbert. In 2013 he received the prestigious Madeleine Award for distinguished service to the Arts and Humanities by the Madeleine Arts and Humanities Council and in 2012 he was awarded the Utah National Guard’s Minuteman Award for service to the State of Utah.

Under his direction, the Tabernacle Choir received numerous awards, including the coveted National Medal of Arts in a ceremony at the White House. He has recorded over 15 CDs on the Telarc and MTC labels with the Choir and in 2008 received a Grammy nomination for his work with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square.

At the Opening Ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Dr. Jessop conducted the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Utah Symphony, working with world-renowned artists Sting and Yo-Yo Ma, and composers John Williams and Michael Kamen. Other artists with whom he has collaborated include Renée Fleming, Frederica von Stade, Bryn Terfel, Audra McDonald, The King’s Singers, Angela Lansbury, Claire Bloom, Walter Cronkite, and Charles Osgood. In 2003, Dr. Jessop conducted the choir and prepared the singers for a performance of A German Requiem at the prestigious Tanglewood Festival with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Rafael Frübeck de Burgos. A much sought-after guest conductor, Dr. Jessop has been on the American choral scene for more than three decades. His tenure as Music Director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and as director of the United States Air Force Singing Sergeants in Washington D.C. has taken him to the most prestigious concert halls of the nation and around the world including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Royal Albert Hall in London and throughout Europe and Asia. In 2013 Dr. Jessop was selected by the American Choral Directors Association to conduct the monumental Benjamin Britten War Requiem with the Dallas Symphony Chorus and Orchestra at their national convention, the fourth time in his career to conduct at the national ACDA conventions. He is also a frequent guest conductor at the prestigious Berkshire Choral Festival in Massachusetts and in 2018 was the resident guest conductor with the all professional Santa Fe Desert Chorale at their annual summer music festival in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He most recently has performed with the acclaimed American composer Morten Lauridsen and in concerts at the Sun Valley Pavilion with Tony Award winning actors/singers Kelly O’Hara, Brian Stokes Mitchel and Sutton Foster. He also prepared the American Festival Chorus for critically acclaimed performances of the Mahler 4th Symphony and the Verdi Requiem for the Sun Valley Summer Symphony in the Sun Valley Pavilion.

In addition to his work as a conductor, Dr. Jessop has been active as a baritone vocalist, first as a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and later with the choirs of Helmuth Rilling and John Rutter and with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers. He is a previous winner of the Metropolitan Opera regional auditions and San Francisco Opera auditions, and has participated in the Merola Opera training program of the San Francisco Opera.

He lives in the peaceful setting of the northern Utah valley of Cache County with his wife RaNae. They are the parents of four children and have ten wonderful grandchildren, 8 grandsons and 2 granddaughters.

Jason Max Ferdinand, Professor – Conductor – Composer – Speaker, is an inspirational musician, leader and teaching mentor whose gifts are sought after by choirs and orchestras in the USA and internationally.

Since 2022 he has served as the Director of Choral Activities at the University of Maryland, College Park, having spent the preceding 14 years as professor at Oakwood University, where he conducted the renowned Aeolians of Oakwood University.

He is the founding artistic director of The Jason Max Ferdinand Singers which since its inception in 2021 has performed to enraptured sell-out audiences. He led its debut at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in 2024.

He is a published author and composer with GIA Publications, featuring the book Teaching with Heart: Tools for Addressing Societal Challenges Through Music, and The Jason Max Ferdinand Choral Series (Walton Music).

Ferdinand began his tenure at Oakwood University in 2008. Performing a repertoire from the baroque to the 21st century he led the Aeolians of Oakwood University in performances throughout the United States and in Canada, Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, Trinidad & Tobago, the UK, Europe and Russia. In 2012 the Aeolians visited Moscow as part of the Russia-US Bilateral Presidential Commission on development of cooperation between Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama. The same year their performance at the 7th World Choir Games earned them three gold medals and the overall championship for the Spiritual category. In 2015 Ferdinand made his debut at Carnegie Hall conducting the Aeolians, the Altino Brothers Concert Chorale, and the Beyond Boundaries Symphony Orchestra. He directed the Aeolians as they accompanied soprano Kathleen Battle at the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center in Birmingham, Alabama, as part of her “Underground Railroad: A Spiritual Journey” Concert Series. He returned to the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center in 2016 to direct the Alabama Symphony Orchestra as they accompanied the Aeolians in a collaborated annual Martin Luther King, Jr. tribute. The 2017 Aeolians won the coveted “Choir of the World Award” with Ferdinand being awarded the “Most Outstanding Director”. In 2018 his choir won three gold medals in the 10th World Choir Games and were overall champions in both the University Choir and Spiritual categories. In 2019 the Aeolians gave a landmark performance at the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) National Convention with popular consent agreeing that “They broke the ACDA”. Their album The Aeolians was also released in 2019.

The unique circumstances of 2021 opened the opportunity to birth The Jason Max Ferdinand Singers in an online concert filmed for the VOCES8 Foundation’s LIVE from London festival. The ensemble began its unifying journey to breathe life into choral works of underrepresented composers and positively affect the cultural health of our world. The Jason Max Ferdinand Singers album Solace was released in 2021. In 2023 the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers performed at the ACDA National Conference in Cincinnati which included a surprise appearance from Jacob Collier. This followed their appearance on Saturday Night Live with Coldplay and Jacob Collier. He led its debut at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in 2024. In 2025 they gave the Presidents Concert at the TMEA Convention.

Cultural maladies presented during the Covid pandemic inspired the compilation of Teaching with Heart: Tools for Addressing Societal Challenges Through Music to provide support and encouragement for music educators. He continues to actively compose and curates The Jason Max Ferdinand Choral Series for Walton Music. His greatest passion is watching the young composers and conductors he has mentored to become conductors and composers in their own right. He loves to teach and was honored to be the 2017-18 “Teacher of the Year” at Oakwood University.

Ferdinand maintains a busy schedule as guest conductor and lecturer at schools, universities, churches, and choral festivals and conferences, in both the USA and internationally. In 2025 he directed, amongst others, the Los Angeles Master Chorale at Walt Disney Hall, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus at Severence Music Center and the Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra. He is honoured in 2026 to guest conduct Seraphic Fire, the Houston Chamber Singers, appear at 2 ACDA Regional conferences as well as lead choirs at Carnegie Hall. He has enjoyed collaborations with Jacob Collier, Donald Lawrence, Take 6 and others in recent years.

A native of Trinidad & Tobago, Ferdinand received his Bachelor of Arts in Piano Performance from Oakwood College (now Oakwood University), his Master of Arts in Choral Conducting from Morgan State University, and his Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from the University of Maryland. He is thankful for his parents, Dr. T. Leslie, and Mary Ferdinand, who are both retired educators. He is married to Meka, a registered nurse, and they are the parents of Caleb, Ava, and baby Jamē.