BIO
Praised for his "furious" and "precise" performances with "incredible dynamic range", Isaac is a percussionist, educator, and composer based in Lexington, Kentucky. He has performed across the country, as a guest at UNC-School of the Arts, East Tennessee State, UN-Kearney, Winthrop University, and UNC-Greensboro. He placed second in the 2019 Great Plains Marimba Competition, and previously won the 2016 & 2017 North Carolina PAS Soloist Competitions. As an orchestral musician, he regularly performs with the Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Western Piedmont, Fayetteville, and Salisbury Symphonies.
With a primary focus in the performance and promotion of contemporary classical music, Isaac has participated in world premieres of over twenty-five new works during the past five years. His recent solo commissions by Spencer Arias, Robin McLaughlin, and Phong Tran focus on the advanced musical and technical skills required of the modern percussionist. Isaac’s specialization has grown from his experiences as a fellow at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival, Waterloo Region Contemporary Music Sessions, and So Percussion Summer Institute. His contemporary work and programming are guided by ongoing research of artists with lesser known or underrepresented identities and studies towards understanding and appreciation of the wide variety of global artistic traditions that intersect with past and present practice of Western art music. Has professionally performed chamber music alongside Michael Burritt and Bryce Dessner, and collaborated with Music for a Great Space, Mallarme Music, Blue Mountain/Forecast, and Elon Contemporary Chamber Ensemble. He can recently be heard on Nathan Hudson’s “Music for Falling and Flying”, available on Neuma Records. Isaac serves as a member of the Percussive Arts Society New Music/Research committee.
An active composer, Isaac’s music is centered around his fascination with musical timbre and gesture. Regarded for his creativity in manipulating repetitive materials, his music draws from personal life experiences and abstract, non-linear narratives. Recent comissions include beneath painted skies..., written for former UNC-Pembroke students Oscar Bennett and Hunter Warren, and Dead in the Water, written for the Elon University Percussion Ensemble. Additional compositions have been featured by Treefalls New Music, Greensboro Project Space, and Vic Firth Concert. Isaac’s music has been published through APAKA Music, MediaPress Music, and Tapspace Publications.
Isaac is a founder and artistic director for Greensboro-based contemporary ensemble Catchfire Collective. Through their “magical” and “artistically stitched together” programming, Catchfire Collective presents innovative, powerful, and inspiring performances that capture the ethos of twenty-first century art music. A prominent part of the Greensboro arts scene, past projects have included “Dreamscapes”, an immersive performance of the music of George Crumb, as well as commissions from Shar Joyner, Stephen Ryan Jackson, Grace Gollmar, and Lihuen Sirvent. The ensemble was recently featured as the Educational ensemble-in-residence for Music for a Great Space, and as a guest artists at UNC-Greensboro, Tennessee Tech, Virginia Tech, Towson, and Grand Valley State Universities.
Isaac was previously Adjunct Instructor of Percussion at Elon University and UNC-Pembroke. He received his master’s degree in percussion performances from Michigan State University, and bachelor’s degrees in performance and music composition from UNC – Greensboro. He has studied percussion with Matthew Geiger, Gwendolyn Dease, Jon Weber, Eric Willie, and John Beck, and music composition with Mark Engebretson and Alejandro Rutty. He will begin studies as a Doctoral Teaching Assistant at University of Kentucky in Fall 2025.
He is a proud member of the Black Swamp Educator Network.