Richard Cumming(1928-2009)
- Writer
- Composer
- Producer
Composer, conductor, pianist and teacher, educated at San Francisco
Community College and Conservatory, and a student of Roger Sessions,
Ernest Bloch, Arnold Schoenberg, and Rudolf Firkusny through Ford and
Wurlitzer grants. He toured as a concert pianist and accompanied
concert singers, and he also was the assistant conductor for the Santa
Fe Opera. Winning first prize in the NFMC Young Composers Contest in
1954, he went on to receive commissions from Thor Johnson, John
Browning, and the Ford Foundation. He was a lecturer at the University
of Saskatchewan in 1956, and a guest lecturer and conductor of seminars
for the University of Colorado and East Carolina College in 1963-1964.
His stage background scores include "The Duchess of Malfi" and "The
Policeman".
