ABOUT THE
ARTIST
Dr. Richard Webb is Professor and Dean Emeritus of the College of Arts and Humanities at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, having served previously as Dean of the College and Chief Academic Officer at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey as well as Professor and Chair of the Departments of Music at San Francisco State University and East Tennessee State University. He holds the Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honors College) and Master of Fine Arts degrees from Ohio University, whose School of Music Society of Alumni and Friends honored him with its Achievement in Music Award, and the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Musicology from the College- Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati. He studied organ with Wilbur Royer, Jerald Hamilton, Eugene Wickstrom and Gerre Hancock, organ literature with Roberta Gary and performance practice with Carol McClintock.
A well-known recitalist, teacher, clinician/adjudicator and administrator, Dr. Webb has performed solo concerts and appeared as guest artist with orchestras and ensembles throughout the United States, England and Spain. Major appearances have included the Inaugural Recital for the 50th Anniversary Season of the Central New Jersey AGO Chapter, a joint concert with the Echo Ringers of Japan by invitation of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights and the Inaugural Series for the largest concert hall organ in North America at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco.
Dr. Webb's imaginative programing interests have led him to premiere the works of such noted contemporary composers as Daniel Lentz, Lewis Songer, Meyer Kupfermann, John Haussermann, Jan Hanus, Gertrude Martin Rohrer, Robert Copeland, Alvin Batiste, James Hanna, Dennis Johnson, Dinos Constantinides, William Grimes and Charles Lloyd. He has presented thematic recitals and workshops on the organ music of America, Asia, Russia and Spain (including a New York recital for the Quincentenary of Christopher Columbus at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue), the organ and piano music of Sigfrid Karg-Elert and the organ and choral works of Siegfried Reda.
His informative and entertaining workshops and practical master
classes in various performance practices have been particularly
well received as a complement to his concert appearances. Recognized
as a facile and highly sensitive accompanist on all keyboard
instruments, he is in significant demand as a collaborative partner
for singers and instrumentalists.
Dr. Webb is a past Dean of the San Francisco, Franklin and Baton
Rouge Chapters of the American Guild of Organists, as well as
a past President of the University Music Administrators of California,
the Baton Rouge Opera, the Louisiana Association of Deans of
Arts, Sciences and Humanities and the Board of Governors of the
Baton Rouge Little Theater. He is a designee of the Louisiana
Artist Roster and a recipient of the coveted Louisiana Artist
Fellowship for excellence in the arts. He is an active church
musician and Organ Principal of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra.
He concertizes as a member of the Louisiana Touring Directory
and is represented as a collaborative artist and chamber musician
by Bach's Five Productions. Recognized among specialists in the
music of Sigfrid Karg-Elert, he is a Life Member of the International
Karg-Elert Archive in the United Kingdom.
