Richard Masters has been appointed an assistant professor of music in the School of Performing Arts at Virginia Tech’s College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.

Masters is one of 16 new faculty members this fall at the college. This year’s hires enhance existing program strengths and increase the college’s national profile across the arts, humanities, and human and social sciences.

“Faculty excellence is at the heart of Virginia Tech’s ability to succeed,” Dean Elizabeth Spiller said. "I am very pleased to welcome such a gifted and transformative group of scholars, artists, and teachers to the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences."

A solo pianist, chamber musician, and opera coach, Masters has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Castleton Festival; and with Grammy Award-winning operatic baritone Donnie Ray Albert, mezzo-soprano Marta Senn, Juilliard String Quartet violinist Earl Carlyss, and many others.

He was previously an instructor in the School of Performing Arts and was appointed in 2013 as Diversity Fellow for the college. In that position he chaired the diversity committee and represented the college in promoting diversity and inclusion across campus. Before coming to Virginia Tech, he was the Butler Opera Center’s opera coach at the University of Texas at Austin from 2010 to 2013. 

In his new position, he will be teaching class and applied piano, lyric diction, musical theatre, opera workshop, and accompanying.

Masters holds a Ph.D. from Eastman School of Music, where he conducted the world stage premiere of American Jake Heggie’s opera “For a Look or a Touch,” dealing with the experience of German gays in the Holocaust; a master’s degree from the Juilliard School; and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

 

 

Share this story