Craig Jessop is a leading American choral director. He sang in his church choirs and developed a baritone voice. He studied at Utah State University (Bachelor of Music), Brigham Young University (Master of Music), and Stanford University (Doctorate of Musical Arts). He won the Utah State Metropolitan Opera Audition and the San Francisco Opera Auditions, consequently entering the Merola Opera Training Program of the San Francisco Opera. He joined the United States Air Force as a musician and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel as a leader of various music programs in that service. Among his postings were as Director of the USAF Singing Sergeants in Washington, D.C., (1980-1987), Commander and Conductor of the Band of the United States Air Forces in Europe (1987-1991), and Commander/Conductor of the Air Combat Heartland of America Band (1991-1995). He has also been music director of the Maryland Choral Society, the Rhineland-Palatinate International Choir of Germany and the Omaha Symphonic Chorus. As a baritone singer he performed in choruses conducted by Helmuth Rilling and John Rutter, and in 1989 joined the Robert Shaw Festival Singers. He left the Air Force in 1995 and joined the Mormon Tabernacle Choir as an associate director. Meantime, he continued to work with Robert Shaw in the preparation of concerts and recordings of the Festival Singers. After Maestro Shaw died suddenly in January, 1999, Jessop in February recorded a project left unfinished by Shaw, the late conductor's English version of Brahms' A German Requiem, with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Utah Symphony. In December, 1999, the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints named Jessop leader of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on the retirement of its esteemed director Dr. Jerold Ottley. In addition to the world famous choir, Jessop's appointment also gave him responsibility for The Temple Square Chorale (training choir for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir) and a newly organized Orchestra at Temple Square. Jessop and his wife, RaNae, live in North Salt Lake with their four children.