Richard W. Robbins is a conductor and chorus master specializing in choral and choral-orchestral music. He serves as Chorus Director and James Erb Choral Chair of the Richmond Symphony Chorus and as Choral Editor and Market Development Manager for Oregon Catholic Press. His work has been described by the press as “moving” (Houston Chronicle) and “powerful” (Duluth News Tribune). Robbins made his conducting debut with the Richmond Symphony in 2024, leading Messiah, and assumed the role of Chorus Master with the Opera Festival of Chicago in 2025, where his work received favorable notice in the Chicago press and in Opera Magazine (UK).
“[The] chorus prepared by Richard Robbins sang with moving tenacity.”
– Houston Chronicle, 2009
Robbins has extensive experience preparing choral-orchestral repertoire. Before joining the Richmond Symphony, he served as chorus master of the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra and assistant director of the Houston Symphony Chorus. He has prepared choruses for conductors including Ermanno Florio, Hans Graf, Christoph Eschenbach, Stephen Cleobury, Valentina Peleggi, Dirk Meyer, and Emanuele Andrizzi. Notable projects include principal choral preparation for Bohuslav Martinů’s Field Mass with the Houston Ballet and for the regional televised premiere of Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time for Minnesota PBS North, featuring the Duluth Superior Symphony Chorus and the UMD University Singers.
photo: David DeHoyos
“Chorus master Richard Robbins had his biggest impact on the evening…. The way the chorus sang…was surprisingly powerful, giving the familiar words new vitality.”
– Duluth News Tribune, 2015
His conducting and collaborative work has included professional, collegiate, church, and youth ensembles in the United States and abroad. He has served as a clinician, adjudicator, and festival conductor, and his choral performances have been featured on nationally syndicated radio programs, including American Public Media’s Pipedreams. His work with new music includes first performances and recorded performances of choral works by Daniel Knaggs, including the 2013 album A New Springtime.
Robbins’s editorial and scholarly work includes internationally published editions of early Baroque Italian sacred music and research on Marc Blitzstein’s lost choral opera The Condemned, published in the Choral Journal. He has presented for organizations including the American Choral Directors Association, the College Music Society, and the National Catholic Educational Association, and has served ACDA in state and divisional leadership. His international work has included conducting and lecturing in Poland, Lebanon, Portugal, and Spain.
As a teacher and mentor, Robbins has held faculty appointments at the University of Minnesota Duluth, where he was tenured, Shenandoah University, and the University of Wisconsin-Superior. He has also taught at the University of Houston and in the Texas public schools, including Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, where he was named Teacher of the Year.
An ecumenical church musician, Robbins has served Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Episcopal communities, including two Catholic cathedrals.
