Jake Hood

Conductor and music educator Jacob Hood is the Director of Orchestras at Alpharetta High School in Fulton County, Georgia. From 2017 to 2022, Mr. Hood was Co-Director of Orchestras at Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, GA. Both orchestras have consistently received superior ratings at adjudications, while Collins Hill performed at the Georgia Music Educators conference, and the CHHS public performances have become a staple of the Lawrenceville/Suwanee communities.

While an undergraduate student, Mr. Hood performed as a cellist with the University of Georgia Symphony Orchestra. He performed dozens of concerts and recitals as a soloist and chamber musician, including more than 50 premiere performances in UGA's Dancz Center for New Music. In addition to his instrumental performance, he sang as a member of three different choral organizations at UGA and taught for four years in the UGA String Project in the Athens-Clarke County school system. 

Mr. Hood has interests in technology and in making the orchestra classroom more efficient for student learning. He is a Level 1 and Level 2 Google Certified Educator. In collaboration with his Collins Hill colleague, Rosie Riquelme-Antunez, he presented their joint research, “Google Apps and the Performing Ensemble,” at the 2020 Georgia Music Educators Association conference.

Currently, he performs in the cello section of the Georgia Philharmonic Orchestra, and maintains a small private studio of young cellists in his home. He is sought after as a large ensemble adjudicator, and has guest conducted ensembles throughout the East Coast.

Mr. Hood earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree in 2016 from the University of Georgia, where he studied cello with David Starkweather. In 2022, he earned his Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting at Messiah University, where he studied conducting with Timothy Dixon.

Mr. Hood is married and lives with his family in Suwanee, GA. He believes garlic bread should be a food group, adores/requires cold brew coffee, and loves attempting long walks on the beach with his fourteen-pound cat, Lord Tubbington, and Australian Shepherd puppy, Sir Otis.