Dr. Kevin Jay Isaacs conducting, 2012.

While the majority of pioneers traveled west to find their destiny, Kevin Jay Issacs, a 31-year-old adventurer from New Mexico, headed east to Connecticut in 1990 to discover his. Isaacs had received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Theory & Composition from Texas Christian University and a doctorate in Composition from The University of Arizona under the tutelage of celebrated composer Robert Muczynski. After serving as a visiting professor in Composition at the University of Arizona, Isaacs went searching for a hard-to-find faculty position that would enable him to pursue his two passions – choral music and composition.

“The job at Western Connecticut State University was perfect for me,” Isaacs said. “I was replacing Jim Furman, who was a theorist, composer and choral guy. I picked the right place to match my personality and training, and I’m thankful that I have been able to do the two things I like to do for the past 35 years.”

Isaacs recalled that in 1990, he was the first new hire in the university’s Department of Music in at least a dozen years, and the faculty in the small department was looking for some vitality and youthful exuberance. “I guess you could say I livened things up,” Isaacs said, laughing. “They pretty much let me do whatever I wanted within reason. The provinciality of ‘we’ve always done things this way’ doesn’t work for me. During my first semester on campus, I went to a vice presidents’ meeting where a discussion was underway about what courses and programs could be cancelled to save money. When I saw the carnage they were about to wreak on the music department, I typed up – on a typewriter because we didn’t have computers then – a report that justified keeping all the targeted degree programs. And none of the programs were cut. They allowed me to be the bratty new guy to fight battles like this, and I learned how things worked and got myself on many committees,” he said.

Dr. Kevin Jay Isaacs with students, 2006.

Under Isaacs’ leadership from 1990–2008, the WCSU choral program grew and flourished. The Concert Choir performed with local symphonies, headlined five times with the New Haven Symphony, twice with the Ridgefield Symphony, once with The Canadian Brass, and performed at Carnegie Hall with Skitch Henderson and the New York Pops Orchestra. Additionally, they were selected for performance at the Connecticut Music Educators Association All-State and In-Service Conference in 1992. Since 2008, he has continued to be involved with the choral program by conducting the Chamber Singers in concerts on and off campus.

He has served as the associate chair of the department and coordinated the graduate degree program in music education. Isaacs was the recipient of the inaugural WCSU Excellence in Teaching Award in 2008, and he was named the 2010 Connecticut Choir Director of the Year by the Connecticut chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. He also served as a Mellon Foundation Faculty Fellow at Yale University in the School of Music and the Institute of Sacred Music during the 1995–96 academic year. From 1991–95, Dr. Isaacs was music director and conductor of The Christ Chorale, an ecumenical adult choral ensemble. During that same time, he was the principal conductor of The Camerata Chamber Orchestra, whose performances could be heard throughout the region.

Dr. Kevin Jay Isaacs conducts the Chamber Singers at the Visual and Performing Arts Center groundbreaking ceremony in 2012.

Sitting recently in his third-floor office in the music wing of the stunning Visual and Performing Arts Center that opened on the Westside campus in 2014, Isaacs is surrounded by the carefully curated memorabilia collected during a 35-year career. Reflecting back, he recalled the alarming shrinking of arts programs in the late 1980s and into 1990, when he first arrived at WestConn. “Look at us now, 20-something years later in this magnificent, $100-million arts building,” Isaacs, a member of the building’s planning and design committee, proudly said.

In addition to his continuous efforts to enhance and grow the music department both in terms of infrastructure and numbers of faculty and students, Isaacs will forever remain a part of the university’s history as the author of  the current “Alma Mater” and athletic “Fight Song,” both of which he composed  in 1993 and are still performed at ceremonies and athletic events to this day. When asked about his willingness to compose both songs by then-Student Life employee Joan Boughton, he proposed a barter: he would write them in exchange for two real, woolen ball caps available to and worn only by members of the university’s baseball team. Thirty-two years later, he’s still quite pleased with the deal he struck.

Additional performers and ensembles nationwide also have commissioned, presented and recorded Isaacs’ compositions; although not for baseball caps. The Ojai Camerata and Arete Singers from California, the Bel Canto Chorus from Wisconsin, The PVP Trio from New York, and The T and P Renaissance Singers from Texas, to name a few, have all premiered works of his. Additionally, schools of higher education around the country have asked him to write for their ensembles, including Luther College, Stetson University, the University of Washington, Valparaiso University, Adam’s State University, California Lutheran University, The University of Arizona, and TCU. His works have been published by Mark Foster Music, Santa Barbara Publishing, and PelCel Music. Recordings of Isaacs’ works have been released by Albany Records, New World Records and CRI Records.

Dr. Kevin Jay Isaacs with the Chamber Singers, 2018.

While the awards and accolades are impressive, perhaps what awes Isaacs the most is the number of music students he has had the opportunity to interact with in his 35 years at WestConn. “Every music student must take choir, regardless of their major,” he explained. “And in the time I’ve been here, I have taught 27 different courses, ranging from MED 100 Voice Workshop and MUS 108 Music Theory I, to MUS 544 Music in the Twentieth Century and MUS 545 Topics in Music Literature.” Undoubtedly, the tall presence with a mischievous grin and conductor’s baton is recognizable to thousands of musicians and music educators who have studied music at WCSU since 1990.

Isaacs said the most difficult part of his storied career has been encountering students who believed that because they were not at Yale or a conservatory, they must be not that good or not good enough at their craft. He said he would tell them, “The only difference between Yale and here is you and I. Be engaged, be fierce, be a Rottweiler Choir. You don’t have to bark or bite, just be high energy and perform the music with attitude.”

Talking about this philosophy led Isaacs to recollect a situation that took place when he was 13 and his father was teaching him how to golf. “My older sister and I were sharing her clubs, and a man drove by and asked if I had my own clubs,” Isaacs said. “I told him I was sharing my sister’s, and he got out and opened his trunk and told me to take his clubs and use them. I asked him how I would be able to return them to him after we finished, and he told me he was done for the season and to keep them.” More than 50 years after this interaction, Isaacs still pauses to remember what he felt that day. “I wouldn’t be here if some people hadn’t taken care of me back then,” he said. “You need to pay that kindness forward.”

Dr. Kevin Jay Isaacs being silly with his students, fall 2024.

Putting those words into action, Isaacs has not only made it a priority to elevate his students’ self-worth in the classrooms and performance spaces in the VPAC, but he and his wife of 41 years, Debra, have also created a fully funded endowed scholarship so meritorious students can attend WestConn and sing in choirs. “Choir means a lot,” he said. “It’s a safe place that allows you to be emotional and emotive. I met my wife in choir at TCU even though she was a pre-med student, because she got a choral scholarship since she was that good.” The Kevin Jay Isaacs Choral Scholarship Fund will be maintained by the WCSU Foundation, and donations can be made by contacting the university’s Institutional Advancement Office. “I taught here for a long time,” Isaacs said. “I’m glad I can help give our students this foundation.”

This May, Isaacs will lead the Commencement procession carrying the University Mace as the most senior faculty member for the last time. It will also be final time he’ll be part of the ceremony as the Alma Mater he composed is performed by one of his students. The fall 2025 semester will round out his obligations as a faculty member, with plans for a large music reunion in October that will acknowledge his retirement and the creation of his scholarship, and will include an alumni concert. He estimates his role as emcee of the December 2025 Holiday Pops concert will be the last time he raises the baton on the VPAC stage.

Isaacs says he’s ready to slow things down and enjoy listening “to all the music” instead of teaching it. He also has plans to write experimental novels and immerse himself in the process. The birth of his first grandchild is expected next September, and he’s looking forward to embracing that new role.

“Teaching is a hopeful act,” Isaacs said. “It’s like planting a tree – not for us to enjoy, but for the future.” Considering how many of his former students are now music educators themselves – and how many future students will benefit from the fertile ground his scholarship will provide – Isaacs has cultivated an impressive grove.

Western Connecticut State University changes lives by providing all students with a high-quality education that fosters their growth as individuals, scholars, professionals and leaders in a global society. Our vision: To be widely recognized as a premier public university with outstanding teachers and scholars who prepare students to contribute to the world in a meaningful way.