Richard Sparks leaving Edmonton’s Pro Coro

By Tom Murray

EDMONTON – For Pro Coro artistic director Richard Sparks it’s an
emotional time.

After 12 years at the helm of the 30-year-old Edmonton choir,
he’s in the process of rehearsing Pro Coro for the very last time.
Bach’s St. John Passion will be the concert he signs out on to
commit full-time to the position of professor of music at the
University of North Texas, in Denton, Texas, where he also conducts
the Chamber Choir and Collegium Singers.

“I told the choir at rehearsal last week that I’m trying not to
think about it very much,” he admits. “You don’t want to let it get
in the way of what you’re trying to do with your job. Certainly 12
years is a long time to be in any arts organization, or city, for
that matter.”

Sparks, 60, came to us from Seattle, where he had founded
Seattle Pro Musica in 1972 (leaving in 1980) and worked as director
of choral activities at Pacific Lutheran University from 1983 to
2001. He took over Pro Coro in 1999, eventually leaving his
position at Pacific Lutheran, and academia altogether, to
concentrate on his new duties.

“There was this choral instrument that really had some wonderful
things about it, and I loved the challenges and joys of trying to
develop that instrument and make the chorus better,” he says,
explaining why he’d never felt the urge to leave Pro Coro until
now, even though he has also been working at U of North Texas for
two years.