Educator, conductor, and baritone, Jack Templeton is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he is an Associate Instructor for the Choral Department and co-director of both the Symphonic Choir and the All-Campus Choir. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education and a Master of Science degree in Educational Administration, both from Bob Jones University.
From 2001 to 2011, he was the music director at Mentor Christian School in Mentor, Ohio, and from 2004 to 2010, the choir director at Bible Community Church. He taught elementary, middle school, and high school choirs, bands, and general music, and planned and conducted three to five major concerts and programs each year. In addition, his high school choirs, ensembles, and private voice students won scores of first-place awards at the annual Buckeye Christian School Association’s Fine Arts Competition and went on to win numerous first- and second-place awards at the annual national competition held by the American Association of Christian Schools. Mr. Templeton’s students were also members of several prestigious youth organizations, including the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus and Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra. He also led his students in producing three professionally recorded compact discs of choral and instrumental music.
As a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and Chamber Chorus for two seasons, Templeton sang several choral masterworks with one of the top orchestras in the world under Music Director Franz Welser-Möst and Chorus Director Robert Porco. He sang in the opera chorus for the 2011 performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni and a minor role in the 2007 performances of Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier, both Cleveland Orchestra productions. While a member of the Bob Jones University Chorale, he sang in several performances in South Korea for the 1996 World Choral Festival.
Aside from music, Templeton’s interests include soccer, camping, worshiping at his church, and spending time with his wife and four-year-old daughter.
Mr. Templeton has conducted the IU Symphonic Choir in concerts of early Baroque music and American folksongs and spirituals. In the coming season, he will conduct music by Brahms, Britten, Michael Haydn, and Vaughan Williams. He has studied voice with David Parker, Richard Anderson (Cleveland Institute of Music), and Brian Horne. He has studied conducting with Warren Cook, Richard Tang Yuk, William Gray, and Dominick DiOrio, and has conducted in master’s classes with Betsy Burleigh and Donald Nally.