Richard J. Clark

ICHARD J. CLARK is an eclectic musician—composer, conductor, organist, pianist, and songwriter. He is currently the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. He previously served for twenty-eight years at St. Cecilia Parish in Boston, Massachusetts as Music Director and Organist, where he oversaw a thriving music program and helped develop the Smith and Gilbert Organ of six divisions and fifty-four ranks. He is also currently Chapel Organist (Saint Mary’s Chapel) at Boston College where he has served since 2004.

Over the years, he has served the Archdiocese of Boston in numerous liturgies, conferences, and liturgical projects, including directing the Office of Divine Worship Saint Cecilia Schola in recordings the ICEL Chants from the Roman Missal, Third Edition.

His compositions have been performed worldwide including performances in Russia of his organ work Ascent to Freedom by American virtuoso Mark Husey and various performances by the American Boychoir under the direction of Fernando Malvar-Ruiz. Ministry & Liturgy Magazine has called his music “transformative” as well as “expertly arranged and prayerfully sung.” His liturgical, choral, and organ works are published by World Library Publications, Lorenz/The Sacred Music Music Press, CanticaNOVA Publications, RJC Cecilia Music, and Corpus Christi Watershed.

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As performer and composer his eclectic appearances include St. Patrick’s Cathedral (NY), Saint-Eustache (Paris), the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (D. C.), EWTN, the Celebrity Series of Boston, Fenway Park, and the New York Songwriters Circle at NYC’s historic “The Bitter End.”

His compositions have been broadcast on radio in New York, New England, and Europe, including Sounds from the Spires with Dr. Jennifer Pascual. He also appears with his wife, clarinetist Kara Gretschel Clark, on the Cathedral Encores CD featuring the 1875 E. & G.G. Hook, opus 801, at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross (Boston). He also appears with trumpeter Richard Kelley in a recording of his Requiem pour une américaine à Paris.

Born in Greenwich Village, New York City, he grew up in Long Island at St. William the Abbott Parish. While studying as a chemistry major at New York University, he also studied piano and composition with Justin Dello Joio. He received his Bachelor’s Degree at the Berklee College of Music in 1991 where he studied jazz piano and composition. He studied organ with James David Christie. In 1997 he completed his Master of Music Degree from the Boston Conservatory, and was elected to the National Music Honor Society, Pi Kappa Lambda.

He currently lives with his wife and four children in Milton, Massachusetts where they are parishioners at St. Agatha Parish.

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