Is Not His Word Like a Fire: The Cry of Jeremiah and Five Mystical Songs

Richard Giarusso is a teacher, performer, speaker, and writer who seeks to build meaning, relationship, and understanding through the study, contemplation, and performance of music. With practical and scholarly experience in a wide range of repertoire, he seeks to engage audiences of diverse backgrounds and interests in dynamic conversations about music and its relationship to history, culture, and creativity. He has a particular interest in inter-disciplinary dialogues about music and the arts and takes great pleasure in crafting experiences that stimulate creative thinking and critical awareness among participants. An award-winning teacher and visionary academic leader, he is Dean of Academic Affairs at the New England Conservatory and was previously Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Musicology at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. Also active as a conductor and singer, he served as music director of the Georgetown Chorale (DC), the Voce Chamber Singers (VA), and the Maryland Choral Society, and he maintains a career as a soloist and ensemble musician throughout the Atlantic corridor. Trained at Williams and Harvard, Richard is a life-long learner shaped by the guidance and inspiration of exceptional mentors who modeled the patterns of inquiry and exploration that he seeks to uphold in his life and work. His non-musical interests include architecture and interior design, traditional French cookery, woodworking, Anglican spirituality, and the beauties of the natural world. He resides in Acton, Massachusetts, with his wife, Allison, three very curious cats, and his seven-year old son, Adrian.