Isaac Selya
Founder and Artistic Director

Isaac Selya has extensive experience as a musician, entrepreneur, scholar, and educator. He made his German debut conducting the world-famous Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen in fall 2018. He has been a featured Spotlight Artist in Musical America, and has guest conducted the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Xiamen Philharmonic in China, the National Symphony of Guatemala, and Pacific Opera Project, where he led the Los Angeles stage premiere of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta. For the Glimmerglass Festival, he coached and conducted the first-ever reading of the revised version of Philip Glass’s Appomattox, with the composer present. He was recently named an inaugural conducting associate at the Defiant Requiem Foundation, which presents performances of Verdi’s Requiem in commemoration of artists interested at the Terezín Ghetto, who performed Verdi’s Requiem in defiance of the Nazis. He also serves as Music Director of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic.

In 2025, Isaac will make his debut conducting the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Ballet in a production of The Wizard of Oz as part of the Ballet Music Director search.

Isaac holds a doctorate from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music, where he specialized in historical casting trends in Mozart’s operas. He is one of the few conductors in the world who has conducted Mozart’s complete German-language operas.

With QCO, Isaac is responsible for selecting repertoire, contracting artists, coaching singers from the piano, and conducting performances. In addition, he handles librarian duties such as ordering parts and marking bowings. He is also responsible for administrative duties such as fund-raising, publicity, and renting performance spaces.

Michael Patterson
Assistant Music Director

Alea Louise Vernon
Social Media Manager

QCO Board of Directors

President: Deborah Lewis, Retired Senior Life Internal Wholesaler at Western & Southern Financial Group

Treasurer: Catherine Cooke, Senior Finance Analyst at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Emily Montion, Partner at Thompson Hine LLP

Karlee Hilliard, Retired from Ford Motor Corporation

Kathy Sandman, eCommerce Customer Development Manager at Nestlé Health Science

Daniel Tonozzi, Program Officer at Ignite Philanthropy