Scott Allen Jarrett

BASS + RESIDENT CONDUCTOR, CHORUS

Conductor and keyboard player Scott Allen Jarrett is recognized as one of our nation’s leading teachers and interpreters of choral music, and especially, the vocal works of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is the Resident Conductor, Chorus of the Handel and Haydn Society, appointed by Conductor Laureate Harry Christophers in 2015. For four consecutive Decembers, the New York Philharmonic brought the H+H Chorus to Lincoln Center for their annual Messiah performances, with Jarrett serving as Chorus Master. Jarrett created and led H+H’s annual Emancipation Proclamation Concert on New Year’s Eve for eight years, commemorating Boston’s historic central role in the abolition movement and the original 1863 Grand Jubilee concert in which H+H musicians performed.

Jarrett is the Director of Music, the Arts, and Cultural Engagement at Boston University’s Marsh Chapel. He established the Marsh Chapel Collegium in 2005 and The Bach Experience at Marsh Chapel in 2007, presenting four cantatas in their original liturgical context throughout the academic year. The works of Johann Sebastian Bach have been central to performance experiences in both concert and liturgy, with frequent performance of the two Passions during Holy Week. The Marsh Chapel Choir has recorded with Gil Rose and Boston Modern Orchestra Project and performed with the Rolling Stones in their 2013 performances at the Boston Garden. Mick Jagger declared the Chapel Choir’s rendition of You can’t always get what you want, “Authoritative!”

Jarrett’s long and fruitful collaboration with the Oregon Bach Festival began in 2010. He conducted OBF’s opening performances of the St. Matthew Passion in 2017 and was subsequently invited to lead the Festival’s beloved Discovery Series.

Valued for his experience with large choruses and his skills with orchestral repertoire, Jarrett served 11 years as Assistant Conductor and Director of Choruses with the Charlotte Symphony. He has been a guest conductor and chorus master for the St Louis Symphony and the New York Philharmonic and is a regular collaborator at Trinity Wall Street (NYC). In addition to summer festivals across the country, Jarrett has held teaching appointments at Virginia’s Shenandoah Conservatory as Visiting Professor of Choral Studies and Associate Professor of Music at the Boston Conservatory at the Berklee College of Music. From 2004 to 2022, Jarrett was the Artistic Director of Boston’s Back Bay Chorale, leading the Chorale through a remarkable period of artistic and organizational growth.