Praised by critics as “extraordinary” (The DCist), Richard Masters is an avid recitalist, opera coach, chamber musician and orchestral pianist based in Austin, Texas. Recent collaborations include concerts with violist Roger Myers, mezzo-soprano Barbara Conrad, and others. He has appeared with soprano Hanan Alattar (Marilyn Horne Foundation), former Boston Symphony principal trombonist Norman Bolter, former Juilliard String Quartet violinist Earl Carlyss, and under the baton of Lorin Maazel. Dr. Masters has performed solo, chamber and vocal recitals throughout the U.S. and in Italy.
In 2008, Dr. Masters served as coach for the world premiere of Lee Hoiby’s newly-orchestrated opera, This is the Rill Speaking in New York, with performances at SUNY Purchase and Manhattan's Symphony Space. He recently led staged performances of J.S. Bach's "Coffee" Cantata, and has conducted Eastman performances of operas by Francis Poulenc and Jake Heggie. Dr. Masters joined the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin in 2010 as an opera coach, and has worked in that capacity with both vocal and collaborative piano students. In 2011, he participated in the world premiere of the revised orchestration of the late Daniel Catán's La Hija de Rappacini presented by the Butler Opera Center. Soon after the premiere, Mr. Catán asked Dr. Masters to prepare a piano reduction of the opera: when completed, it will be published by G. Schirmer. In addition to his work at UT, he has played for the Metropolitan Opera's National Council Auditions at the regional and district levels in Texas.
Future engagements include the music direction of Daron Hagen's New York Stories at the Butler Opera Center, and La Traviata for Corpus Christi's Sparkling City Light Opera Company, as well as performances with the new Austin concert series Kaleidoscope.
His writings include an in-progress biography of the American pianist and Debussy specialist George Copeland. An article on the history of accompanying appeared in the February/March 2011 issue of American Music Teacher.
Dr. Masters holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, the Juilliard School and the University of Colorado at Boulder.