Composer-in-Residence
Richard Rice (Composer)
Richard Rice has been active as a singer, conductor, and composer in the
Washington, D.C. area for over 20 years. He has served primarily as a church
musician, and for the past seven years, as director of Canticum Novum Schola
of Greater Washington, has indulged his love of Gregorian chant in the context
of the traditional Latin Mass. A baritone, Richard has sung with some of the most
prestigious choirs in the Washington area. As a choral composer, he has devoted
most of his efforts to setting liturgical texts. His Salve Regina for mixed voices
a cappella received its premiere performance by the New York Virtuoso Singers in May 2006, and the same group performed
his Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in October 2006. He has developed a distinctive style for setting secular texts. His setting of
Edmund Waller's "Go, Lovely Rose" for tenor and piano received the 2005 Ned Rorem Award from the Diana Barnhart
American Song Competitions, and in 2006 the same organization gave honorable mention to his setting of Walt Whitman's
"Are You the New Person" for baritone and piano. His setting for six-part a cappella chorus of Wilfred Owen's monumental
"Dulce et decorum est" received its premiere performance by NYVS in January 2004. Writing for treble voices was an early
compositional interest, and several of his Latin motets in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary received their premiere
performance by the Countertop Quartet in February 2006. His works for piano include a sonata and several etudes, and
he enjoys writing harmonized chant settings for organ. When not composing, Richard is usually preparing new editions of
Gregorian chant, which are now being used internationally through the auspices of the Church Music Association of America.
A native of the Pacific Northwest, Richard received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Seattle Pacific University and a Master of
Liturgical Music degree from the Catholic University of America.
If you would like to link to my website, which contains additional biographical information, Click HERE.
Photo by Claudia Lohner
