Ronald Richards collection of music for oboe
Collection
0442-SCPA-RICHARDS
Ronald Richards (b. Buffalo, NY, June 5, 1930 - d. Amherst, NY, March 10, 2015), was an American oboist who began his musical career as a teenager. At fifteen years old, Richards was a founding member of the Amherst Symphony Orchestra in Williamsville, New York. At sixteen, he became one of the youngest musicians to play in the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Richards was an active member of the Amherst Symphony Orchestra from its founding until his death. The Ronald Richards collection of music for oboe includes more than 1200 scores, part sets, and recordings.
The collection is unprocessed but is open for research use. Materials from this collection must be used in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library's Irving and Margery Morgan Lowens Special Collections Room during
Copyright was not transferred to the University of Maryland with the gift of any copyrighted materials. All rights remain with the creators and rights holders. The University of Maryland Libraries is granted permission for the use in scholarly research by the Libraries’ patrons under fair use in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act.
To inquire about duplication of materials for research or for publication, please contact SCPA’s curator.
1250 Scores
The Ronald Richards collection of music for oboe includes more than 1200 scores, part sets, and recordings.
Ronald Richards (b. Buffalo, New York, June 5, 1930 - d. Amherst, New York, March 10, 2015), was an American oboist who began making his musical mark while still in his teens. At fifteen years old, Richards was a founding member of the Amherst Symphony Orchestra in Williamsville, New York. At sixteen, he became one of the youngest musicians to play in the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
Richards earned a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy and a Master’s degree in Music from University of Buffalo, where he later served as an oboe professor for forty years. Richards continued to give private oboe lessons for more than six decades.
Other than two years spent as guest oboist with the Beersheva Symphony Orchestra in Israel, and another two years spent in the United States Army, Richards was an active member of the Amherst Symphony Orchestra from its founding until his death. He performed for more than fifteen years at the Missouri Symphony Chamber Orchestra summer festival and was also a member of the Niagara Symphony Orchestra in St. Catharines, Ontario.
Richards was an advocate for the lost works of many composers – some going back centuries – and founded the Buried Treasure Ensemble in the 1980s to perform them.
Part of the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library