Richard Skirpan is the Associate Conductor of the Master Chorale of South Florida and a Teaching Assistant in Choral Studies at the Frost School of Music of the University of Miami, where he is pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting.
Previously, he was the Director of Choral Music at Calvert Hall College High School, an all-boys college preparatory school in Baltimore, MD, where he was conducting three men’s choirs, teaching classes in musicianship and music history, and music directing and conducting for musical theater productions.
Mr. Skirpan was also Choirmaster of the Nativity Choir, a professional mixed choir with an emphasis on plainsong chant and Renaissance polyphony at the Church of the Nativity in Timonium, MD.
He performed with the Baltimore Choral Arts Society and served as assistant conductor for Dr. Karen Kennedy with the Towson University Choral Society. For four years, Mr. Skirpan was an assistant conductor, musicianship and music history instructor, and small ensemble director on the artistic faculty of the New York State Summer School of the Arts School of Choral Studies, a program for auditioned high school vocalists from across New York State, held on the campus of SUNY Fredonia.
A graduate of Duquesne University’s Mary Pappert School of Music, Mr. Skirpan earned the Master of Music degree in Music Theory and served as the assistant conductor of the Duquesne University Chamber Singers and Concert Choir. He was a recipient of the Philip H. Inman Excellence in Choral Conducting Arts Scholarship from the Beaver Valley (PA) Choral Society. Mr. Skirpan also received the Bachelor of Music degree in Music Technology and Composition from Duquesne University, while studying conducting with Dr. Brady Allred.
As an undergraduate student, he guest conducted the Duquesne Contemporary Ensemble in the premiere of his own one-act opera, The Masque of the Red Death, based on the short story by Edgar Allan Poe. He was a member of the Duquesne University Chamber Singers for six years, touring Europe, Canada, and the northeastern United States, and had been assistant conductor for the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh. Mr. Skirpan also appeared with Duquesne’s Spotlight Musical Theatre Company, music directing, conducting and accompanying for eight musical theater productions.
Mr. Skirpan is married to his college choir sweetheart, Diane.
