Meet the Director

Scott Allen Jarrett is the fifth Music Director of Boston’s Back Bay Chorale.  In his seven years with the Chorale, he has led acclaimed and memorable performances of such masterworks as Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, the St. Matthew Passion and B Minor Mass of Bach, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Honegger’s Le Roi David, the Monteverdi Vespers, and the world premiere of Julian Wachner’s Come my darked-eyed one. Under his leadership, the Chorale has grown in artistic and organizational excellence, attracting Boston’s finest volunteer singers. Through this dedication and growth, the Chorale and Jarrett remain committed to leading the choral arts in Boston through their presentations of the best of the choral/orchestral repertoire, old and new.

Jarrett is also Director of Music at Boston University’s Marsh Chapel. His appointment at the University includes lectureships in both the School of Theology and the School of Music. As director of Music at Marsh Chapel, Jarrett oversees the rich musical life of the Chapel, including a music staff of associates, managers, Choral Scholars, and the Inner Strength Gospel Choir. Also, Jarrett is on the conducting staff of the Charlotte Symphony (NC), where he is Music Director of the Oratorio Singers of Charlotte, the resident chorus of the Charlotte Symphony. During the season, he travels weekly to Charlotte to lead the symphony chorus rehearsals, and conducts most of the chorus’s appearances with the Symphony, including the annual Messiah performances, Piccolo Spoleto Festival concerts, and this season’s performances of Haydn’s Die Schöpfung.

Through these appointments, Jarrett regularly conducts the great masterworks of the choral/orchestral repertoire, with a particular focus on the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Having established the Marsh Chapel Bach Cantata Series, he has conducted more than 35 cantatas, and multiple performances of each of Bach's four major works (St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion, Mass in B Minor, and the Christmas Oratorio). As a keyboardist, he was a frequent accompanist for the late Robert Shaw, and appears regularly as a continuo player with Miami-based Seraphic Fire.

Jarrett served eight summers on the conducting staff at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI) in the Berkshires. BUTI is part of the Tanglewood Music Center, the summer home of the Boston Symphony. He received the Master of Music and Doctorate of Music degrees from Boston University, and the Bachelor of Music degree from Furman University (Greenville, SC).