Leonard Vrana Richter
Leonard Richter is professor of music in piano and theory at Walla Walla College. Richter has been at WWC since 1978, a record tenure in keyboard teaching at the college. His piano students and graduates have won numerous top prizes in regional, national, and international competitions and several are now teaching at colleges and universities and pursuing successful careers as recitalists and soloists with orchestras.
A native of Sudetenland, now the Czech Republic, Richter received most of his education there. He completed a Performer's Diploma with high honors at the People's Conservatory in Ostrava in 1962 and, six years later, graduated with majors in German and English from Polacky University in Olomouc. During those years, he premiered works by Vladimir Svatos, won several prizes in Young People's Creativity contests in piano, and was chosen to perform in the Beethoven Festival in Lichnowski Castle in Hradec.
Richter emigrated to Canada in 1968, enrolled at the University of Waterloo, and earned a B.A. in German and English. He then completed M.Mus. degrees in piano at Andrews University in 1971 and at the Manhattan School of Music in 1977. He received a Ph.D. from New York University in 1984. He has studied piano with several noted teachers, including Anna Skalicka, Brno Conservatory; Dora Zaslavasky, Manhattan School of Music; and Adele Marcus, The Juilliard School.
He taught in Canada at Kingsway College from 1973 to 1975.
In his years at WWC, Richter has made a distinguished contribution as a performer and teacher. He has given numerous recitals and soloed with the Walla Walla Symphony four times. Additionally, he was the featured recitalist in the opening program of the 1989 Washington State Music Teachers Association annual convention in Spokane. He has given numerous guest lecture-demonstrations and is a sought-after adjudicator for piano competitions in the Northwest.Richter was assistant in piano at Whitman College for 18 years. A number of his WC students have also enjoyed considerable professional success. Presently, he is also on the faculty of the International Institute for Young Musicians, a summer program held at the University of Kansas. Since 1990, he has been a Senior Examiner for the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Canada.
On four occasions, Richter's students won the Northwest Wurlitzer Competition in piano at the college level and then advanced to compete against six other regional winners in the national finals. They have won first prize nationally on three occasions. Stephen Beus, a WC graduate, was one of those winners. In 1996, while still in high school, Beus, who has studied with Richter since his earliest years, won first place in the Junior Gina Bachauer International Competition. Today, he is a sought-after soloist.
Richter received the WWC Burlington Northern Foundation Faculty Achievement Award for Teaching in 1987.
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