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Views from the Choir Loft

Biography • Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark · January 14, 2013

ICHARD J. CLARK is an eclectic musician—composer, conductor, organist, pianist, and songwriter. In 2018, he was named as the Director of Music for the Archdiocese of Boston and choirmaster at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. He previously served for twenty-eight years as Music Director and Organist at St. Cecilia Parish, where he oversaw a thriving music program and helped develop the Smith and Gilbert Organ of six divisions and fifty-four ranks. He continues as Chapel Organist (Saint Mary’s Chapel) at Boston College, where he has served since 2004. As performer and composer, his appearances include the Church of Saint-Eustache (Paris, France), the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (Washington D. C.), Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), the Celebrity Series of Boston, Fenway Park (historic home of the Boston Red Sox), the New York Songwriters Circle, and Saint Patrick’s Cathedral (New York).

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The Ministry & Liturgy Magazine has called Mr. Clark’s music “transformative” as well as “expertly arranged and prayerfully sung.” His compositions have been broadcast on radio in New York, New England, and Europe, including Sounds from the Spires with Dr. Jennifer Pascual. In Russia, his organ work Ascent to Freedom was played by American virtuoso Mark Husey and the American Boychoir under the direction of Fernando Malvar-Ruiz. 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. He also appears with trumpeter Richard Kelley in a recording of his Requiem pour une américaine à Paris. His liturgical, choral, and organ works are published by Lorenz/The Sacred Music Music Press, CanticaNOVA Publications, RJC Cecilia Music, Corpus Christi Watershed, and World Library Publications. Mæstro Clark is frequently chosen as presenter at international conferences such as the Sacred Music Symposium and the NPM Annual Convention.

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ORN in Greenwich Village, New York City, Mr. Clark 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. To reach Richard J. Clark via Email, please click here.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles, Biographies Tagged With: Catholic Composers Last Updated: August 20, 2020

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About Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)
    The organ accompaniment booklet (24 pages) which I created for the 4th Sunday of Lent (“Lætare Sunday”) may now be downloaded, for those who desire such a thing.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Vespers Booklet, 3rd Sunday of Lent
    The organ accompaniment I created for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (“Extraordinary Form”) may now be downloaded, if anyone is interested in this.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Weeping For Joy! (We Hope!)
    Listening to this Easter Alleluia—an SATB arrangement I made twenty years ago based on the work of Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel—one of our readers left this comment: “I get tears in my eyes each time I sing to this hymn.” I hope this person is weeping for joy!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

On 12 March 1908, Feast of St. Gregory the Great, the complete publication of the “Graduale” was issued by the Vatican Press. That very day, Dom Pothier solemnly presented the first copy to the Holy Father. Pius X wished to be the first to see the new book; he opened it at random, at page 128 of the supplement “pro aliquibus locis”—the Introit of the new Feast of Our lady of Lourdes. The Pope sang it with perfect taste to the last note.

— A witness of the papal audience writing circa 1915

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