An American Prize-winning conductor, Michael Isadore is the Philharmonia Conductor with the Houston Youth Symphony, Associate Conductor with the Houston Civic Symphony and the Director of Orchestras at Dulles High School. Known for being an energetic conductor with authentic, moving performances, Mr. Isadore has become a prominent voice in the Houston area. Since working with young musicians has played an important part in his career, Mr.Isadore has developed a detailed rehearsal strategy and devised creative ways to spark imagination in order to communicate the most advanced musical concepts. Under his direction, the Dulles High School symphony and string orchestras have consistently been “Commended and National Winners” in the Mark of Excellence competition. They have performed multiple times at the Midwest Clinic and been finalists in the Texas Honor Orchestra Competition. This year, the Dulles Orchestra was selected to be featured at the National School Board Association convention, performing for an audience of 6000 school administrators and school board members. In the 2017 American Prize competition, the orchestra was awarded 2nd and 3rd place in performance categories. In 2018, the Houston Symphony Philharmonia won the American Prize for the performance of American Music and additionally Mr. Isadore won the American Prize for conducting. For the 2019-2020 awards, Dulles, the Houston Youth Symphony and Mr. Isadore are still in contention for awards in multiple categories. Locally, Mr. Isadore has been recognized with the Spec’s Charitable Foundation Award for Excellence in Music Education, presented by the Houston Symphony.
Mr. Isadore’s versatile career involves performances as an orchestral and chamber musician, concerto soloist, recitalist, lecturer, and teacher. He holds clarinet positionswiththeVictoriaSymphony, the Symphony of Southeast Texas, and has performed professionally with the HoustonSymphony, Corpus Christi Symphony, the San Antonio Chamber Orchestra, the Victoria Bach Festival and the HoustonGilbert and Sullivan Society. As a soloist, Isadore has performed seven concertos with orchestras around Texas. Instrumental in advancing new music, Mr. Isadore and his flutist wife, Jennifer are founding members of the Flute/ Clarinet Duos Consortium (FCDC) with the goal of increasing the repertoire for flute, clarinet, and piano by leading composers. The duo, with pianist Stephen Morris, premiered the third FCDC commission by Valerie Coleman at the 2007 National FluteConvention in Albuquerque; he has also lectured on the creation of FCDC and has performed at the International Clarinet Association Convention. Mr. Isadore uses his love of contemporary music to bring composers into his orchestra rehearsals and is currently involved in multiple commissions for string orchestra by leading composers.
Appearing regularly as a clinician and as a judge, Mr. Isadore also presents workshops on a variety of topics from orchestral musicianship to conducting at local and state conferences.
Mr. Isadore received his Bachelors of Music Education degree from Baylor University and Masters of Music degrees in clarinet performance and conducting from the University of Missouri—Kansas City, Conservatory of Music and Dance. His primary conducting teachers are Stephen Heyde, Michael Haithcock and Gary Hill with further study with Kenneth Woods, Christopher Zimmerman, Gary Lewis and Jeffrey Grogan. In his spare time, Mr. Isadore can be found doing a variety of activities from Jiu Jitsu and badminton to knitting.
