Former Faculty (chorus, theory) Telephone  (212) 749-2802 E-mail  risaacs@msmnyc.edu

Robert Isaacs earned his degree magna cum laude from Harvard University, where he designed his own interdisciplinary course of study in choral music. Subsequently he was awarded a Benjamin Trustman Fellowship to support a year's travel throughout England and Scandinavia. After observing dozens of choirs in rehearsal, he published his findings in Faire is the Heaven (Blue Juniper Press, 1996). Isaacs spent six years as voice coach and eventually associate conductor of the renowned National Youth Choir of Great Britain, while simultaneously running the choral program at the Garrison Forest School outside Baltimore. As a solo countertenor, Isaacs has been featured in recent performances of Leonard Bemstein's Chichester Psalms, J. S. Bach's St. John Passion and Cantata 21, the Musikalische Exequien of Heinrich Schütz, the consort music of Robert Parsons, the Handel oratorios Israel in Egypt and Messiah, and Henry Purcell's virtuosic Ode to St. Cecilia. A passionate exponent of ensemble music, Isaacs helped found the acclaimed vocal sextet Equal Voices, a collaboration among six of New York's most experienced singers. He has also appeared in recent years with Angelus, Bachworks, the New York Collegium, the Mark Morris Singers, Musica Sacra, Pomerium, the St. Ignatius Choir, the St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, the Virgin Consort, Voices of Ascension, and the Vox Vocal Ensemble. Isaacs has performed with Toby Twining Music, the English chamber choir Laudibus, the Washington-based Woodley Ensemble, and the World Chamber Choir (a project of the International Federation for Choral Music in Namur, Belgium). His interests outside of music are wide-ranging: He holds an MFA in literary nonfiction from Columbia University, briefly supported himself in the early 90s as a street-performing juggler and unicyclist, and has studied for, but not yet earned, his private pilot's license. Manhattan School of Music faculty from 2000 - 2008.

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