The School of Music is thrilled to announce the appointment of Jacob Schnitzer as Interim Director of Orchestras and Bret Peppo as Interim Director of Choral Activities. Both Schnitzer and Peppo will join Kent State University this fall.
About Jacob Schnitzer
Jacob Schnitzer is a conduit through which the powers of music, storytelling, and art connect with others. Schnitzer’s work as a conductor spans symphonic, opera, and contemporary repertoire; his work in immersive concert design offers audiences unforgettable multisensory experiences.
Recipient of The Solti Foundation U.S. 2023 Career Assistance Award, Schnitzer currently serves as Artistic Director of the chamber orchestra Density512 in Austin, Texas, Interim Director of Orchestra at Kent State University, and Assistant Conductor of The Missouri Symphony. He previously served as Assistant Conductor to the late Bramwell Tovey and the Boston University Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, Assistant Conductor of the UMKC Conservatory Orchestra and Opera, and Artistic Advisor of Silent Films Out Loud. A champion of new music, Schnitzer has led world premieres of more than 45 works by living composers.
Schnitzer recently participated in masterclasses with Yannick Nézet-Séguin at Domaine Forget de Charlevoix. His principal mentors include conductors Kevin Noe, Bramwell Tovey, Joshua Gersen, and Peter Bay as well as composers Zhou Long, Yevgeniy Sharlat, and Donald Grantham. He holds degrees from the UMKC Conservatory, Boston University, and The University of Texas at Austin. www.jacobschnitzer.com
About Bret Peppo
Bret Peppo is excited to be joining the faculty at Kent State University as Interim Director of Choral Activities. He is currently on a sabbatical where he just completed his seventeenth year as Director of Choral Activities at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, CA where he conducts the Concert Chorale, Chamber Singers, Masterworks Chorale and the Vocal Jazz Ensembles.
Peppo has also held positions as the Director of Choral Activities at Alderson-Broaddus University, the University of South Alabama and Illinois State University and Associate DOCA at the University of Northern Arizona.
His concert and jazz choirs have toured extensively throughout the country and have been selected to numerous perform for the All-State and ACDA Conferences. As a conductor, Peppo has conducted many high school and collegiate all-state festivals for both honor choir as well as jazz choirs. He is a frequent adjudicator and clinician with many national music festivals and is frequent judge for show choir, vocal jazz and A cappella competitions.
Bret Peppo received his B.M.E. at Eastern Illinois University, M.M. in Conducting at Illinois State University and is ABD from University of Iowa in Conducting and Pedagogy.
Images: (left) Jacob Schnitzer (right) Bret Peppo