Richard Giarusso

Musicology

Richard Giarusso joined the department of musicology at Peabody in the fall of 2007. He is a versatile musician with practical and scholarly experience in a wide range of repertoire. After undergraduate study in music and English at Williams College, where he worked closely with Kenneth Roberts, he earned the PhD in historical musicology from Harvard University, completing his dissertation under the supervision of the late Reinhold Brinkmann. His research focuses on the music of Schubert, Bruckner, Mahler, and Vaughan Williams. In addition to his work at Peabody, he also offers interdisciplinary classes in music and literature at the Johns Hopkins University. A frequent lecturer for arts organizations in the mid-Atlantic, he has presented talks for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association, the Baltimore Symphony, the Washington Bach Consort, the Handel Choir of Baltimore, the Shriver Hall Concert Series, and the Baltimore Museum of Art.

In addition to his academic work, Dr. Giarusso maintains an active career as a singer and conductor throughout the Northeast. He has studied voice with Keith Kibler, Pamela Dellal, and Elizabeth Daniels and conducting with E. Wayne Abercrombie and Bradley Wells. He has performed in master classes with Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Mitsuko Shirai, and Hartmut Höll and has coached German art song with Robert Levin, Malcolm Bilson, and John Shirley-Quirk. An experienced ensemble singer, he was a regular member and frequent soloist with the Choir of the Church of the Advent (Boston). Praised by the Washington Post for his "expressive and perfectly controlled voice," he currently performs with the Washington Bach Consort, the Choir of St. Paul's Church, K Street, and Cathedra, the vocal chamber ensemble of the Washington National Cathedral. Solo engagements during the 2012-13 season include a joint recital with soprano Allison Mondel, a program of Schubert lieder at Georgetown University with pianist Sean Gallagher, and appearances with the Washington Bach Consort and the Cathedral Choral Society. During the summer months, he serves on the faculty of the Berkshire Choral Festival in Sheffield, Massachusetts. As a conductor, he led the annual productions of The New Opera (Williamstown, MA) from 2004 through 2007 and served as music director for the inaugural season of the Hubbard Hall Opera Theatre (Cambridge, NY) in 2008. He was named artistic director of the Maryland Choral Society in January 2009. He returns to the Berkshires in January to lead staged performances of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro at Williams College and appears as guest conductor with the Washington Bach Consort in April.