Jacob Harrison

Director of Orchestral Activities

Jacob Harrison is Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Orchestral Activities at Iowa State University. He conducts the ISU Symphony Orchestra and teaches instrumental conducting. Dr. Harrison received a Bachelor of Music in Trombone Performance from the University of Texas at Austin; he received the degrees Master of Music Education and Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting from Arizona State University. At Arizona State, Dr. Harrison served as Director of the A.S.U. Sinfonietta Orchestra and was a teaching assistant for the A.S.U. orchestra program.

While living in Phoenix, Dr. Harrison served as Music Director of the North Valley Chamber Orchestra and was a cover conductor for the Phoenix Symphony. Additionally, he worked with such groups as the Mill Avenue Chamber Players, the Phoenix Youth Orchestra, the Scottsdale Community Orchestra, the Arizona Repertory Orchestra, the Poston Junior High Orchestra Program in Mesa, and the Highland High School Orchestra Program in Gilbert.

In 2007, Harrison was appointed Resident Conductor of the Chapparal Music Festival, a new music festival in Prescott, Arizona. An enthusiastic supporter of music that is created for our time, he continues to work with many composers and has premiered numerous musical works for orchestras, wind ensembles and a wide variety of chamber ensembles. Harrison was also a regular guest conductor with the Arizona Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) throughout his time in Arizona.

In addition to his passion for conducting contemporary music and the great symphonic literature, Dr. Harrison is an accomplished opera and musical theater conductor. In 2006, he was the conductor for the Arizona Lyric Opera Theatre production of Bela Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle and was the assistant conductor, in 2007, for Arizona Lyric Opera Theatre.s production of Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos.

Dr. Harrison was a trombone student of Donald Knaub and Nathaniel Brickens at the University of Texas; he studied orchestral and opera conducting with Timothy Russell and William Reber at Arizona State University. His recent research has focused on the current state and future of American symphony orchestras. Marin Alsop, Robert Spano, and Michael Christie have all been contributors to his research.

Jacob and his wife, Kathleen, reside in Ames, Iowa.