SAHarmonie

In his twenty-third year as a conductor and music educator, Brett A. Richardson serves as the Director of Bands and Baenziger Professor of Music at the Texas Lutheran University School of Music. He is also the Conductor and Artistic Director of the San Antonio Harmonie Ensemble, a professional, community chamber winds group named National Winner of the 2023 American Prize competition for community bands/wind ensembles that also recently presented an invited clinic at the 2024 Texas Bandmasters Association Clinic/Convention.

 

Sought after for his versatility and energy as a conductor-teacher, Dr. Richardson has led heartfelt performances with performers of all ages across the United States, in addition to serving as an invited presenter to the Midwest Clinic (three times) and thirteen different state-affiliated music education conferences. Recently, he served as a conductor for the internationally-attended 2024 Indiana University Summer Music Clinic and band adjudicator for the 2024 Citation of Excellence national competition sponsored by the Foundation for Music Education. In the past years, Dr. Richardson has held conducting residencies at various universities along with a wide variety of ensembles including members of the San Antonio Philharmonic, San Antonio Brass Band, U.S. Army National Guard 36th Infantry Band, Heart of Texas Concert Band, Austin Symphonic Band, and Southern Indiana Wind Ensemble. In 2022, he music directed San Antonio’s first fully-staged performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 21.

 

A published author, Dr. Richardson co-authored the textbook Conducting Enrichment through Sentia Publications and GIA’s Teaching Music through Performance in Band series and Program Notes: A Comprehensive Guide to Band Directing edited by Dr. John Denis. In 2018, Dr. Richardson was one of twelve invited participants in the inaugural H. Robert Reynolds Conducting Institute at the Midwest Clinic. Before his appointment at TLU, Dr. Richardson proudly served as a public school music educator in Texas and on the music faculties of Stephen F. Austin State University and the University of the Incarnate Word where he was a recipient of the 2019 UIW Provost’s Legacy in Teaching Award. Dr. Richardson’s professional affiliations include the Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association, College Band Directors National Association, and Phi Beta Mu International Honorary Bandmasters Fraternity. He holds degrees in wind conducting and music education from Stephen F. Austin State University, Texas A&M University-Commerce, and the world-renowned Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He resides in Cibolo, TX with his wife, Jacquelyn Matava, an accomplished mezzo-soprano and voice professor, and shih-tzu, Lanny.