Education

• University of Iowa, B.M. (Music Education)
• Butler University, M.M. (Conducting)
• University of South Carolina, D.M.A. (Conducting)

Additional Study

 University of Calgary, Wind Conducting Diploma Program

 

Biography

Richard Marcus was born and raised in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.  He has served on the faculties of the College of Charleston and the University of South Carolina Upstate and has twelve years’ experience teaching in public and private schools in Georgia, Illinois, and Switzerland.  Dr. Marcus has conducted the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Indianapolis Brass Choir, the Valley Civic Orchestra, the Charleston Symphony Youth Orchestra, and the Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra.  He currently serves as Music Director of the Peninsula Youth Orchestra.

At William & Mary, Dr. Marcus directs the Wind Ensemble and Chamber Winds and teaches conducting, music theory, and special topics courses including music business.  He has led the Virginia premieres of works by James Stephenson, David Clay Mettens, and Maria Faust.  Recent programs have included works by David Maslanka, John Mackey, Adam Gorb, Cindy McTee, Gustav Holst, Vincent Persichetti, and Ulysses Kay.

Dr. Marcus’s research is on the music of Hans Gál, an Austrian composer and scholar banned under National Socialism.  He serves as the USA contact for the Hans Gál Society and is a member of the College Band Directors National Association, the National Association for Music Education, the Conductors Guild, the College Music Society, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and Pi Kappa Lambda