I grew up as a conductor in a world where conductors were measured by their ears. We were kind of obsessed with it. And maybe for good reason. In addition to perception, what other tools do great conductors have?

Conductors today are judged by many criteria in many different contexts. But in the rehearsal room, there are some non-negotiable skills we need to develop. Richard Sparks joins me on this GIA/WALTON series episode for a deep dive into what truly makes a conductor effective. It’s not just about baton technique—it’s about how you listen, how you interpret, and how you communicate with your ensemble. Richard shares lessons from his own conducting journey, as well as insights from working with some of the most respected musicians in the field. We also discuss

• Why developing strong aural skills is critical for making musical adjustments

Why self-assessment—whether through recording rehearsals or active reflection—is key to growth

Whether you’re leading a professional choir, a high school ensemble, or just interested in the art of conducting, this episode will challenge you to rethink what tools are in YOUR Conductor’s Tool Box. Stick around!

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Richard Sparks is a conductor with a wide range of experience in both the academic and professional fields. He founded Seattle Pro Musica when he was twenty-three and in the next seven years conducting over seventy concerts with three ensembles. By the time he was thirty, he had conducted all the major works of Bach, including almost fifty of his cantatas; orchestral and choral/orchestral masterworks by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven; and many other works from all periods. And from 1978 to 1985 he was Principal Conductor of the Pacific Northwest Bach Festival in Spokane, Washington, which used period instruments.

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Sparks taught from 1980 to 1983 at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts and then became Director of Choral Activities at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU), where he taught until 2001. During his tenure at PLU he led the Choir of the West, also conducting major works ranging from Bach’s Mass in B Minor and St. John Passion to Poulenc’s Gloria, Stravinsky’s Les Noces, and Britten’s War Requiem. He also led tours across the US, to Japan/China, England, and to Scandinavia.

During this period he also conducted the Seattle Symphony Chorale (1990-1994), preparing them for nine recordings on the Delos label (many of those now on Naxos), including the Grammy-nominated Howard Hanson Lament of Beowulf. He also founded Choral Arts Northwest (1993-2006) and with them explored primarily a cappella repertoire, making three CDs on the Loft/Gothic label. And from 1999 to 2011 Sparks was Artistic Director of Pro Coro Canada, a professional chamber choir in Edmonton, Alberta. They also did tours to Toronto and Quebec.

From 2009 to 2019 Sparks was Professor of Music at the University of North Texas and was also Chair of the Division of Conducting & Ensembles. Many of his performances can be found on YouTube, including a Vivaldi Gloria with over five million views, Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers, and the 1725 version of the St. John Passion. The Collegium Singers have performed at the Boston Early Music Festival four times, once at the Berkely Early Music Festival, and at the 2016 NCCO Conference.

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Sparks worked with the Swedish Radio Choir in 2002, 2007, and 2008, including preparing Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem for a performance with Valery Gergiev and the Rotterdam Philharmonic which was released on DVD with BIS Records. He has also guest conducted the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, and the Anchorage Music Festival (for three years, the first time substituting for Robert Shaw with the Brahms Requiem), among many others. He continues to be active as a guest conductor, workshop leader, and clinician. He will guest conduct Capella Romana in Portland and Seattle this March, the PLU Choral Union (which he founded 40 years ago) in May, and be in residency at Northwestern University (Andrew Megill) in Evanston, Illinois in June.

​His BM and MM degrees are from the University of Washington, where he studied with Rodney Eichenberger as an undergraduate and Abraham Kaplan for his MM. During his undergraduate degree at the University of Washington, Samuel Krachmalnick accepted Sparks into his graduate orchestral conducting class, where he studied for two years. His DMA is from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he studied choral conducting with Earl Rivers, Elmer Thomas, and John Leman, and orchestral conducting (his cognate area) with Teri Murai. His doctoral dissertation on Swedish a cappella music won ACDA’s Julius Herford Award, and was later published as The Swedish Choral Miracle.

His book, “The Conductor’s Toolbox” was published by GIA. He was inducted into the Swedish Royal Academy of Music in 2021 (at the same time as Quincy Jones), for his contributions to Swedish choral music.

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