Richard Link is a Canadian composer, musical director, teacher, and performer presently living in London, England. An accomplished pianist, he often music directs, conducts, and plays for his own productions.

Personal history and education

Link was born in

Medicine Hat Medicine Hat is a city in southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff to the northwest are with ...

, Alberta, Canada. After graduating from high school, he moved to

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, Alberta, where he attended the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...

and graduated with a bachelor of music degree. He worked professionally in Edmonton as a composer, musical director, and teacher until 1996 when he moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, California. He studied

kinesiology Kinesiology () is the scientific study of human body movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, anatomical, biomechanical, pathological, neuropsychological principles and mechanisms of movement. Applications of kinesiology to human healt ...

and taught musical theatre at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different ...

. He attended John F. Kennedy University where he completed a master's degree in Holistic Health Education. In his masters thesis ''Art as a Spiritual Practice,'' he developed a new methodology for teaching performing arts. His thesis asserts that honoring the individual—and focusing on the process, not the product—creates the best possible performance, and ironically, the best final product. In 2006, Link moved to London, where he continues to compose, teach, music direct, and perform. As a teacher of musical performance and composition, Richard has mentored students in Canada, the United States, and the UK, including: ''Lecturer and Course Leader of the Actor Musician Program,'' London College of Music ( 2010 – 2021) ''Guest Lecturer'' at Chichester University (2021)

Compositions - Theatre

The majority of Link's compositions are musical theatre and choral works. He has also scored music for film, video, television, and dance. His musical theatre works include over 15 one- and two-act musicals, plus music for plays and incidental music. Musicals include ''Wrenched, Popsicle Puppets are Essential Too'', ''

A Little Princess ''A Little Princess'' is a children's novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, first published as a book in 1905. It is an expanded version of the short story "Sara Crewe: or, What Happened at Miss Minchin's", which was serialized in ''St. Nicholas Ma ...

'', ''Alberto the Dancing Alligator,'' ''Dream World,'' ''The Painter's Dream'', and ''Watch Me Shine.'' Three of his musicals were written for Children's Musical Theatre San Jose as part of their "Theater as Digital Activity (TADA)" program. Link has written an extensive body of

choral music A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which s ...

, both

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

and

sacred Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...

. Secular works include three choral works, ''Songs for Us,'' ''Woven Together,'' and ''Four Seasons,'' all for

SATB SATB is an initialism that describes the scoring of compositions for choirs, and also choirs (or consorts) of instruments. The initials are for the voice types: S for soprano, A for alto, T for tenor and B for bass. Choral music Four-part harm ...

mixed chorus. He's also written song cycles and art songs, mostly for one or two voices and piano, and has set three of

Vikram Seth Vikram Seth (born 20 June 1952) is an Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. He has won several awards such as Padma Shri, Sahitya Academy Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Award and Crosswor ...

's poems to music. His sacred music compositions include anthems and

liturgical music Liturgical music originated as a part of religious ceremony, and includes a number of traditions, both ancient and modern. Liturgical music is well known as a part of Catholic Mass, the Anglican Holy Communion service (or Eucharist) and Evensong ...

. Link has also crafted popular music. He teamed with Niall Vignoles, co-writing and playing on all songs on the full-length CD "Hard As Nails". ''Heels of Glory'' had a three week run at the Chelsea Theatre in London in June of 2016 and was chosen by Live Theatre UK as one of the top 10 new musicals in June 2016. ''Six Nights in Naples'' was performed at th
London College of Music
in November 2015 and at th
Charing Cross Theatre
in June 2016. ''Gideon’s Dream'' was performed at the
Theater Nestroyhof Hamakan
in Vienna in 2008 and at the San Francisco Jewish Community Center in 2006. Recent commissions include: ''Lysistrata'' �
London College of Music
Nov 2018 ''Nell Gwynn'' - LCM March 2018 ''Twelfth Night'' – LCM Feb 2018 ''Doctor Faustus'' – Ridley College (Canada) March 2018 ''Vinegar Tom'' – Ridley College November 2017 ''Twelfth Night'' – University of British Columbia 2014 ''Caucasian Chalk Circle'' – University of British Columbia Sept 2013; subsequently performed at the University of Michigan Nov 2013 and Ridley College Feb 2016 ''The Book of Job –'' Engineered Theatre, Calgary Alberta Feb 2013

Compositions - Film and Television

*''Born at Home'' NFB documentary *''Blood Clan'' (1990)

Musical direction

Link has directed over 100 shows, from well known shows by contemporary composers to obscure musical theatre pieces. His direction credits are fairly evenly distributed between professional theatre companies, high schools and colleges, fringe theatre, community theatre, and summer stock.

Awards

Winner, 1994/1995

Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award The Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award (also known as the Sterling Award) is a local Edmonton, Alberta award presented annually which honours excellence in theatre. The award covers a number of categories, including production, performance, direction ...

for outstanding composition and design. Winner, 1992/1993 Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award for outstanding musical direction. Nominee, 1990/1991 Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award for outstanding musical direction.

Sources and external links

Official siteChildren's Musical Theater San JoseElizabeth Haynes Sterling Awards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Link, Richard People from Medicine Hat Musicians from Alberta Canadian male composers San Francisco State University alumni John F. Kennedy University alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people)