Richard Westenburg photo by Richard Ten Dyke

Richard Westenburg (April 26, 1932,

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

– February 20, 2008,

Norwalk, Connecticut Norwalk is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The city, part of the New York metropolitan area, New York Metropolitan Area, is the List of municipalities of Connecticut by population, sixth-most populous city in Connecticut ...

) was a lauded American choral conductor. He notably founded the Musica Sacra Chorus and Orchestra in 1964, serving as its director until 2007 when

Kent Tritle Kent Tritle (born August 26, 1960) is a choral conductor and organist in New York City, United States. He is the current director of the professional chorus Musica Sacra and of the Oratorio Society of New York, and director of cathedral music a ...

took over as director. He also founded the Basically Bach Festival at

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

in 1979, running the festival for a decade. He served as the music director of the Collegiate Chorale from 1973 to 1979 and was a popular lecturer at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

from 1979 to 1982. Westenburg also served on the faculties of several universities. He taught choral music and conducting at the

Mannes College of Music The Mannes School of Music (), originally called the David Mannes Music School and later the Mannes Music School, Mannes College of Music, the Chatham Square Music School, and Mannes College: The New School for Music, is a Music school, music con ...

from 1971 to 1977, was the head of the choral department at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

from 1977 to 1989, and was on the music faculty at

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

from 1986 to 1992.

References

1932 births 2008 deaths American choral conductors American male conductors (music) Juilliard School faculty The New School faculty Rutgers University faculty Musicians from Minneapolis 20th-century American conductors (music) 21st-century American conductors (music) Classical musicians from Minnesota 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians {{US-conductor-stub