About Richard Hoskins

Richard Hoskins was appointed Director of Music & Organist of St. Chrysostom's Episcopal Church, Chicago in January of 1984.  He conducts the 16-voice professional choir, a Children's Choir, and a volunteer Parish Choir.  He is also the Director of the Music at St. Chrysostom's Concert Series, which he founded in 1985.

He is the College Organist and teaches Organ & Church Music at Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin.  He was Assistant Professor of Organ & Harpsichord at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, from 1995-2008.  He also directs and teaches piano and organ for St. Chrysostom’s Music Academy. 

He has played recitals in churches and at universities throughout the Midwest, in Canada, in England at York Minster, in Vienna and in Paris at St. Sulpice and Le Temple du Saint-Esprit.  He has appeared as soloist with the Northern Illinois University Philharmonic and the LaPorte County Symphony.  He has appeared with the Chicago Symphony Brass, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, The Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, Music of the Baroque, the William Ferris Chorale, the Asbury Brass Quintet and the Millar Brass Ensemble. During the 2004-2006 seasons he appeared as Organist for the Chorale on WTTW’s Sunday evening program, 30 Good Minutes.  He has been heard on the syndicated radio program Pipedreams, playing the Fisk Organ at St. Chrysostom’s, in Chicago on WFMT.  His faculty recitals at NIU have been broadcast on WNIU.  

He served as organist for the Choir of Christ Church, Winnetka, under the direction of Richard Clemmitt, for the Choir’s residency at Wells Cathedral in 2003, August 2005 at Durham Cathedral, August 2007 at Lincoln Cathedral, and 2008 at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco..

He has given workshops for AGO chapters and colleges:  at Elmhurst College on French organ music; a recital of French organ music and a masterclass on same for the Fox Valley American Guild of Organists Chapter; and a workshop on organ music for Lent and Easter for the Rockford American Guild of Organists Chapter.

He began organ studies in Freeport, Illinois with Velma Wachlin in 1971.  He received his Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University in 1976.  In 1988 he was named the William H. Barnes Scholar at Northwestern and received a $10,000 award for graduate study.  His organ study for both Bachelor and Masters degrees was with Dr. Richard Enright.  Other teachers at Northwestern included Dorothy Lane - Harpsichord, Wolfgang Rubsam - Improvisation, and Margaret Hillis - Conducting.  He studied Organ Construction and Design with Kurt Roderer, resident organ builder at Northwestern.  In 1989 he was elected to the honorary music society Pi Kappa Lambda.

In 1974 he was the First Place winner of the Young Artists Competition sponsored by the Society of American Musicians and was presented in recital by the Society.

In 1979 he was awarded two scholarships by the French government for organ study in France with Daniel Roth, then Organiste-Titulaire of the Basilica du Sacre-Couer, now Organiste-Titulaire of St. Sulpice.  While there, he made his Parisian concert debut at the Temple du Saint-Esprit.  Also, he made a study of the design and construction of the organs built by Aristide Cavaille-Coll.  He also studied with M. Roth at the Summer Academy for Organists in Haarlem, Holland (1977).

He attended the Cambridge Choral Studies Seminar in 1990 at Clare College, studying with John Rutter, Mary Berry, Timothy Brown, Peter Le Huray and Percy Young.

He was Assistant Organist at St. James' Cathedral, Chicago from 1976 to 1979 and was Interim Organist-Choirmaster in 1980.  He then served as Organist-Choirmaster at historic Second Presbyterian Church, Chicago, and was recorded there for the Tiffany exhibition at the Field Museum. 

He was a member of the Bishop's Advisory Commission on Church Music for the Diocese of Chicago from 1990 until 1995.  He has served a three-year term as board member of the Chicago chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and was the Coordinator for the Young Artists Competition sponsored by the chapter. 

He has recorded organ works of Charles Tournemire in Lyon, France, and, with the professional choir of St. Chrysostom's Church, produced and recorded "In dulci Jubilo - Christmas at St. Chrysostom's".  He has appeared as organist on the various CD's: Music of The Baroque's Christmas CD Sing Joyfully , as well as their new DVD of Christmas music to be released in 2008 and broadcast on  WTTW, and with the Lutheran School of Theology Chicago Chapel Choir.

He served as Organ Consultant for St. Giles' Episcopal Church, Northbrook, a successful collaboration resulting in the purchase of a mechanical action organ by Helmut Wolff of Montreal.  He was appointed Organ Consultant to Christ Church Cranbrook, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1992 for the rebuilding of their E. M. Skinner organ by the Mander Organ Co. of London.  He served as Consultant to the First Congregational Church of DeKalb, Illinois, resulting in the renovation of the Gress-Miles organ by the Howell Pipe Organ Company of Sterling, Illinois. He was a member of and Consultant to the organ committee of St. Chrysostom's Church for the replacement of the church's 4-manual, 90 rank Moeller organ.  He considers the beautiful new 24-stop, 33 rank organ by the C. B. Fisk Organ Co., installed in September 2004, to be his most significant and happiest accomplishment.