Jackson, Christopher

Christopher Jackson was born on July 27, 1948 in Halifax and died on September 25, 2015 in Montreal. He was married to trombonist Dominique Lortie and had three sons.

He attended the École de Musique Vincent d’Indy from 1966 to 1970 and then studied at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal where he graduated in 1975. In 1974, he co-founded the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal (SMAM) and became its artistic director in 1988. Christopher Jackson joined the department of Music at Concordia University in 1978 as a full-time professor. He served several administrative positions, including Chair of the department from 1983 to 1988 and Associate Dean from 1991 to 1994. He became Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts in 1994 until 2005.

A specialist in vocal polyphony of the Renaissance as well as the great works of the Baroque era, he was a renowned organist, with an active well-established career as harpsichordist, choral and early opera conductor. He was a regularly invited as guest conductor for ensembles in Europe, the U.S. and Canada and had made numerous recordings, both as a conductor and a soloist.

• Christopher Jackson was instrumental in the creation of Hexagram, an inter-university research institute for new media and the arts with the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) in 2001.
• In 2001, Jackson received a Doctor of Sacred letters from the University of Sudbury, in recognition of his work with the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal.
• Jackson was a member of the Comité des orgues of the Fondation du patrimoine religieux du Québec from 1988 to 2009 and acted as a technical consultant, advising on the state of different church organs in Québec.

2016-12-20
Revised 2024-01-22