Although he has an impressive catalogue of solo appearances to his career, Richard is perhaps best known as a choral conductor. This is his fourth season as Artistic Director of the Grand River Chorus. He is conductor of the University of Waterloo Chamber Choir and a voice teacher at McMaster University. Richard was the founding director of the Central City Children’s Choir of Hamilton, a position held from 1996 until September of 2004. In 2006 he moved back into the realm of working with children by taking on the post of director of the Brantford Children’s Chorus. In 2007, he accepted a position as Music Director at Three Willows United Church in Guelph.

Richard earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from the University of Toronto. He has studied choral conducting with Derek Holman, Edgar Hanson, William Wright, Douglas Bodle, and Jon Washburn.

As a concert artist, Richard’s studies began at U of T with Lillian Weichel and Edgar Hanson. The grateful recipient of three scholarship grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, Richard traveled to England to study with Timothy Penrose and James Bowman, two of the finest practitioners of the countertenor’s art. Richard also sang at Winchester Cathedral and St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, making many appearances before the Royal Family.

As a soloist, Richard has traveled through France, Holland, Germany, Britain, the United States and Canada, and has often been heard on the CBC. He has performed with the symphony orchestras in Toronto & Kitchener / Waterloo, the Hamilton Philharmonic and the English Chamber Orchestra, as well as the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Hamilton’s Bach-Elgar Choir and the Philharmonic Choir in K/W. He has often performed with Tactus Vocal Ensemble, La Chappelle de Quebec and Les Violons du Roy in Quebec & Montreal, the Elora Festival Singers, and with Toronto’s baroque choir and orchestra - Tafelmusik. Richard has also been a frequent performer with the John Laing Singers in Hamilton.

The rest of his non-family time is taken up with composition, vocal teaching and driving between rehearsals.