Allyssa Jones

Director of vocal ensembles

Email: allyssaj@usf.edu
Phone: (813) 974-2311
Office: MUS 310

Ms. Allyssa Jones (she/her), is an award-winning musician and educator whose career spans nearly 30 years in the classroom and on stage. An alumna of Adelphi University (B.S. Music Education) and Northern Illinois University (M.M. Music Education), she studied with baritone Robert Sims, soprano Jayne West, conductor Larry Newland and composer Judith Lang Zaimont. Her creative credits include five solo recordings as a singer-songwriter, over 35 theatrical productions as a composer, music director and sound designer, and commissioned works for professional artists and pedagogical projects, including soprano Denise Bird and youth strings organization Make Music NOLA.

Formerly the Program Director for Performing Arts for Boston Public Schools and Music Faculty at Boston Arts Academy, Jones is known for championing student choice, voice and identity in music pedagogy and performance. Currently the Chair of the NAfME Council for Innovations, her service record includes the Institute for Composer Diversity (Head of Outreach), Cultural Connections by Design (Board Member), the Massachusetts MEA-Eastern District (inaugural Advocacy and Outreach Chair), ACDA Massachusetts (Jazz Chair), the NAfME Perspectives Group (co-facilitator), and the Handel + Haydn Society (Education Planning Team). Her work as a conductor and choral clinician includes the Pinellas County Schools Ignite Festival (Clinician), Florida Vocal Association District 11 MPA (On-Stage Clinician), Massachusetts MEA Northeast District Honor Choir (Conductor), Boston Children’s Chorus (Guest Conductor), Worldstrides Heritage Festivals (Adjudicator/Clinician), and numerous schools and community arts organization across New England and in Greater Tampa Bay.

At the intersection of these experiences is Jones’ work with Rising Tide Music Press, a non-profit publishing company she founded to create pathways for emerging Black, Brown, Indigenous and Asian composers. A composer in her own right, collaborations include Knockaround Kids (film score, screenplay and direction by John Oluwole Adekoje), Water Songs (art song suite, text by Kendra Preston Leonard), and Brother Nat (musical, book and lyrics by Jabari Asim and Liana Asim). Commissions include works for soprano Denise Bird and New Voices New Orleans Youth Chorus.