Director’s Corner

Dr. Frank C. Jacobs founded the SUMMIT CHORAL SOCIETY in 1990 and has, since that time, devoted his full energies to managing, pro-moting, and serving as its artistic director and chief administrator.

He holds degrees from Occidental College (Los Angeles, CA); DePauw University (Greencastle, IN); and the University of Illinois (Champaign, IL). He has studied with such noted choral conductor/teachers as Elmer Iseler, Wilhelm Ehmann, Joseph Flummerfelt, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Kenneth Jennings, Helmuth Rilling, Howard Swan, and David Willcocks.  Master conductors for whom he has prepared choral/ orchestral works include Harold Decker, Lukas Foss, Louis Lane, Gunther Schuller, Robert Shaw, and Howard Swan.

Dr. Jacobs has taught elementary, junior high, and high school music in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and California - and served as director of choral activities for five years each at DePauw University and at the University of Akron.  During this time, he devoted much of his interest and energies to the study and performance of major choral/orchestral works, and continues to have a primary interest in that area of performance.  In the spring of 2000 he became the recipient of one of four Ovation Awards presented by the state-wide organization VARN (Vocal Arts Resource Network) for. . . "instilling and inspiring the love of vocal music through his work with children and adults, and through the Summit Choral Society's outreach into their whole community."

In the summer of 2005, Dr. Jacobs was privileged to be invited to conduct Bach’s B Minor Mass in the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, China. As a result of that invitation, forty members of the SCS Masterworks Chorale and the West Shore Chorale of Cleveland combined with sixty-five singers from Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music to sing this monumental work accompanied by the Tianjin Symphony Orchestra to a capacity crowd.  Reviews were universally outstanding and many friendships were forged.

In addition to his duties with the SUMMIT CHORAL SOCIETY, Dr. Jacobs remains active as a popular choral clinician and guest conductor. He resides in Fairlawn, Ohio with his wife, Arlene.