Eastern Kentucky appoints Richard Waters as new DCA

Eastern Kentucky University has appointed Dr. Richard Waters director of choral activities.

Waters, associate professor of music, will direct the University’s three choral ensembles and teach undergraduate and graduate courses in conducting and choral literature.

He received a bachelor’s degree in music education from James Madison University, a master’s degree in choral conducting from the Hartt School of Music, and a doctoral degree in choral conducting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He has studied conducting with William Carroll, Richard Coffey, David Watkins, Michael Yachanin, and Welborn Young, and has conducted in master classes led by Rodney Eichenberger and Dennis Keene.

Previously director of choral activities at Delta State University in Cleveland, Miss., Waters received the DSU Foundation Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 2008. Choirs under his direction have toured New York, Washington, D.C., England, Austria, and the Czech Republic, and have been invited to perform at state and regional conferences of American Choral Directors Association, including the 2010 ACDA Southern Division Conference in Memphis.

Waters maintains an active schedule as a composer, clinician, and adjudicator. His compositions are published by Colla Voce Music and Santa Barbara Music Publishing. He is a member of ACDA, ASCAP, Chorus America, College Music Society, MENC, NCCO, Omicron Delta Kappa, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and Pi Kappa Lambda.