Isaacs has composed 135 works, many commissioned by Australia’s most distinguished orchestras, ensembles and musicians. His output includes three symphonies, six concertos, chamber, choral, vocal and solo works. He has received major awards including an Australia Council Fellowship, the Albert H. Maggs Composition Award and the Jean Bogan Prize for Piano Composition.

One of the finest contemporary symphonists working in Australia. His symphonies are amongst the most attractive Australian orchestral works of the last decade —Professor Rhoderick McNeil, author of The Symphony in Australia 1960–2020

As a jazz pianist and composer, he has twice been nominated for the ARIA Award for Best Jazz Album. He has recorded and toured worldwide, appearing at festivals such as Tokyo Jazz Festival and Pori Jazz Finland, and working with legendary international figures including Roy Haynes, Dave Holland and Kenny Wheeler. His many albums have been released on major international and Australian labels including Naxos and ABC.

His sound defines what jazz should sound like —ALL ABOUT JAZZ (USA)

Isaacs is equally at home interpreting and creating, and his acclaimed recordings as a solo classical pianist span repertoire from Chopin, Rachmaninov, Scriabin and Ravel to his own piano sonata and other compositions. He has performed and recorded with Australia’s leading classical instrumentalists, bringing a composer’s insight and imagination to the concert platform.

Few would dare reinvent such icons of the Western canon. But for Mark Isaacs, to perform is to reinvent —SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

Isaacs has conducted his work with major orchestras and ensembles including the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Omega Ensemble and numerous studio orchestras. 

The musicians [were] clearly inspired by both music and conductor; indeed, Isaacs’s sense of urgency in the direction as much as in the music is palpable —LIMELIGHT Magazine

Isaacs has also composed and conducted orchestral film scores, as well as music for television, theatre and dance.

[Isaacs] proves he can romance, swashbuckle and parade regal with the best of them —THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN

In popular music, Isaacs has written the music and lyrics, produced and released original songs that combine sophisticated songwriting with large-scale orchestral imagination.

Part Leonard Bernstein, part Burt Bacharach as interpreted by Dionne Warwick and Dusty Springfield — it’s almost symphonic pop! —RHYTHMS Magazine

For a decade, Mark Isaacs served as an accredited voluntary telephone crisis supporter with Lifeline Australia, the nationwide suicide prevention service.