Richard Riley
​​​​​​conductor

Richard Riley is the Artistic Director of the Burlington Choral Society, Music Director at the Unitarian Church of Montpelier, guest conductor with the Onion River Chorus and, for the second year, Capital City Concerts. From 1997-2006 he was on the performance faculty at Cornell University where, as director of the Cornell Chorale and the Sage Chapel Choir, he conducted performances of over 200 works, including large works by Bernstein, Britten, Orff, Stravinsky, Dello Joio, Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Handel, Bach, and Purcell as well as premiere performances of works by twelve Cornell-affiliated composers. Mr. Riley received his Bachelor’s degree in the Performance of Early Music from the New England Conservatory and his Master’s degree in Choral Conducting from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. A native of Baltimore, he was the first conducting student of fellow Baltimore native Theodore Morrison, director emeritus of graduate studies in conducting at The University of Michigan's School of Music. Riley has had a parallel career as an arts administrator, previously serving as director of the Brattleboro Music Center, Cornell Concert Series, Powers Music School, and Music in Deerfield.