Dr. Richard Sparks (Interim)

Richard Sparks is Professor at the University of North Texas, as well as Chair of the Division of Conducting and Ensembles, where he conducts two different ensembles, the UNT Chamber Choir and the Collegium Singers. The Collegium Singers perform with UNT’s award-winning early music program, most recently singing at the Boston Early Music Festival, and last year doing such works as Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers.

Sparks just finished a twelve-year tenure as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of Pro Coro Canada in Edmonton, Alberta. Pro Coro Canada, one of Canada’s pre-eminent professional choirs, performances have ranged from Victoria’s Requiem to all the late masses of Haydn, and Stravinsky’s Les Noces to regular commissioned works. In 2008 he was also music director for a production of Monteverdi’s Orfeo in Edmonton. In both 2007 and 2008 he spent considerable time in Sweden, working with the Swedish Radio Choir, preparing them for performances with Valery Gergiev (including a DVD of Brahms Ein Deutsches Requeim with the Rotterdam Philharmonic), Daniel Harding, and others. In addition he conducted their Spring Concert in 2008. He first conducted the Radio Choir in 2002, the first North American conductor to do so in more than 25 years. He is also Conductor Emeritus for Choral Arts in Seattle, which he founded and led from 1993-2006. Choral Arts has three CD recordings on the Gothic/Loft label and, in addition to their own concerts, were hired for performances by other organizations such as the Seattle Symphony, Seattle International Music Festival, Northwest Sinfonietta, and the Mark Morris Dance Company.

From 1983 to 2001, Sparks was Director of Choral Activities at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA, where he led the Choir of the West on tours across the US, to England, Japan, China, and Scandinavia, in addition to releasing eight CD recordings. Besides to the choir’s extensive a cappella repertoire, at PLU he conducted major works such as Bach’s Mass in B Minor and Johannes Passion; Handel’s Israel in Egypt and Dixit Dominus; Haydn’s Harmoniemesse, Lord Nelson Mass and Creation; Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in C Minor; Verdi’s Requiem; Poulenc’s Gloria; and Britten’s War Requiem. He also conducted the Seattle Symphony Chorale from 1990 to 1994, preparing the Chorale for numerous performances and nine recordings under the baton of Gerard Schwarz on the Delos label, including the Grammy nominated Lament for Beowulf.

An expert on contemporary Swedish choral music, his book, The Swedish Choral Miracle, based on the Julius Herford Award winning dissertation at CCM, was published in 2000.