Richard W. Robbins serves as director of choral activities at Shenandoah Conservatory and is the chorus director and James Erb Choral Chair of the Richmond Symphony Chorus. Known for his expressive and compelling leadership, Robbins’s choral work has been described as “moving” by the Houston Chronicle.
Robbins’ operatic credits include chorus preparation for productions with the Lyric Opera of the North, Moores Opera Center, Richmond Symphony, Houston Ballet, and Shenandoah Conservatory Opera. He has collaborated with major conductors such as Ermanno Florio, Hans Graf, Christoph Eschenbach, Emanuele Andrizzi, Valentina Peleggi, Dirk Meyer, and Stephen Cleobury, preparing choruses for staged and concert performances alike. Prior to his current roles, he served as chorus master of the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra and assistant director of the Houston Symphony Chorus.
In 2024, Robbins made his conducting debut with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra. His choral performances have been featured on television and nationally syndicated radio, including American Public Media’s Pipedreams. Other broadcast highlights include chorus preparation for Bohuslav Martinů’s Field Mass with the Houston Ballet and the regional televised premiere of Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time for Minnesota PBS North. He is also featured on the 2013 recording A New Springtime, conducting first performances of choral works by American composer Daniel Knaggs.
A frequent guest conductor, Robbins has conducted choral festivals in major cities across the U.S., including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Baltimore, San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Miami.
Internationally, Robbins has conducted and lectured at the Chopin Conservatory of Music in Warsaw, Krakow’s Academy of Music, the John Paul II Liturgical Institute, and with Lebanon’s Fayha National Choir. His scholarly work includes research on Marc Blitzstein’s lost choral opera The Condemned, and he has published on this subject in the Choral Journal.
professional website: richardrobbinsmusic.com