THE JACKSONVILLE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
CHORUS
JON O. CARLSON
Director of Choruses
Jon O.
Carlson is a member of the Jacksonville University faculty, where he is
director of choral activities and professor of music. He is also director
of
music of Southside United Methodist Church. Recent highlights of Dr.
Carlson leading the JSO Chorus include Mozart’s Ave verum corpus and
“Great” Mass, Bizet’s Carmen, Haydn’s The Creation and the mystical Four
Sacred Pieces by Verdi.
<>From 1991 through 2001 Dr. Carlson was chair of Jacksonville University’s Division of Music. Under his direction, choral ensembles from Jacksonville University performed for a wide variety of audiences, including the American Choral Directors Association, the Florida Music Educators National Conference and on the USS Forrestal at Mayport Naval Station. In Jacksonville he also served as Music Director of the St. Johns Art Singers and conducted the Duval County All-Star High School Chorus.
Dr. Carlson’s career spans over three decades and ranges geographically from Pennsylvania to Anchorage Alaska, where he was assistant professor of music at Alaska Methodist University in the 1970s. Appointed as Jacksonville Symphony chorus director in 2001, Dr. Carlson is no stranger to JSO audiences, having prepared the Chorus for performances under the batons of Roger Nierenberg and Willis Page, as well as Fabio Mechetti. He has sung and recorded with choirs directed by Eugene Ormandy (Philadelphia Orchestra), Leonard Bernstein (New York Philharmonic) and Joseph Krips; and studied conducting with Warren Martin, Nicolas Harshanyi, Harold Decker and Helmuth Rilling.
Frequently in demand as a clinician and adjudicator, Dr. Carlson has judged for the Florida Vocal Association Regional and State Festivals, American Guild of Organists, Florida Baptist Music Association, Heritage Music Festivals and Events America Music Festivals.
A native of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Dr. Carlson attended Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania and holds the Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. He received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Illinois.
Photo by Mary Hess.