Richard Gray
Richard Gray has been serving as the Director of Music for St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in St. Paul, MN since September 2018. He directs two choral ensembles, serves as coordinator of the weekly compline services, and is Artistic Director of the Winifred Bean Sacred Music Series. He was the 2017-18 Inaugural Organ Scholar at St. George’s Episcopal Church, Nashville, where he trained under the tutelage of Dr. Woosug Kang within all aspects of the strong Anglican choral tradition. Richard holds degrees in organ performance from Southern Methodist University and Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Additional studies have been at the McGill Summer Organ Academy in Montréal, the 2017 Atlanta Summer Conducting Institute as a Conducting Fellow, and at the Cambridge Choral Summer Course, where he is an alumnus of the class of 2019.
During his graduate studies at SMU, he was engaged as an organist at Highland Park Presbyterian Church. He enjoyed collaborations with Dr. Greg Hobbs as an accompanist for both the Chancel Choir and Highland Park Chorale. Richard has served as Assistant Course Organist for the 2016 Royal School of Church Music Course in Raleigh, NC. He won the Prize for Hymn Playing Excellence (Alamo AGO Award) in the 2016 William C. Hall Pipe Organ Competition in San Antonio. He has sung with the Nashville Chamber Singers, the Dallas Choral Festival Chorus and the Highland Park Chorale.
As a recitalist, Richard has performed concerts in notable venues throughout the United States including Charlotte’s Myers Park Baptist Church, Washington DC’s National City Christian Church, Cleveland’s The Church of the Covenant, Minneapolis' St. Olaf Catholic Church, Boston’s Trinity Church on Copley Square and Dallas’ Highland Park United Methodist Church. He has twice been featured as a solo artist on the L'Organo Series of the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC.