Craig Jessop

Biography

Dr. Craig Jessop is Professor of Music and Coordinator of the Masters of Conducting Program with a Choral Emphasis at Utah State University. From 2010 to 2018 Dr. Jessop served as the first Dean of the Caine College of the Arts at USU. This appointment followed Dr. Jessop’s distinguished tenure as Music Director of the world-famous Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square in Salt Lake City and as Head of the Department of Music at Utah State University. 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. For the past 10 years Dr. Jessop continues to serve as the Music Director of the National Memorial Day Choral Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. 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 Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. 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.