Richard Householder began his career as Director of Choral Activities at the University of Windsor in 1973 and retired from that position in 2006 with the rank of Professor Emeritus. Before his appointment in Windsor, he taught at Eastern Washington State College (now Eastern Washington University) and at Hastings High School in Hastings, Nebraska. A native of Alliance, Nebraska, he graduated from Hastings College and earned a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He pursued further studies with Robert Shaw, Elmer Iseler, David Willcocks, and Lynn Whitten.
Professor Householder has also been active as a community musician, founding the Windsor Classic Chorale in 1977 to provide the City of Windsor with a high-caliber choral organization. Its inaugural performance was a presentation of Handel’s Messiah with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra and local soloists. During its first two decades, the Chorale frequently performed with the Windsor Symphony, collaborated with three other symphony orchestras, and sang under the direction of two of Canada’s most distinguished choral conductors, Elmer Iseler and Jon Washburn.
In addition to the Windsor Classic Chorale, Professor Householder was the founding conductor of the Windsor Symphony Chorus, the Essex Singers, the Windsor Community Choir, and the University of Windsor Chamber Choir. His choirs performed regularly with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, and with the Windsor Classic Chorale, Chamber Choir, and Ontario Youth Choir, he was featured in five programs for CBC Television. His ensembles have also been heard numerous times on CBC Radio.
He has conducted the Windsor Symphony Orchestra on eight occasions and has frequently appeared as a guest conductor for choirs across Canada and the United States. He has also served as a conductor of the Ontario Youth Choir and spent two years as a member of the U.S. Army Chorus in Washington, D.C. Since 1975, he has sung with the professional Adult Choir at Christ Episcopal Church in Detroit, Michigan.
He guest-conducted performances of Handel’s Messiah with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in December 2009, and with the Detroit Choral Artists and Birmingham Bloomfield Symphony Orchestra in December 2010. From 2010 to 2015, he served as guest conductor for the Fort Street Chorale and Orchestra’s annual spring concert, leading performances of Handel’s Jephtha, Honegger’s King David, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, and Requiems by Mozart and Brahms. In 2014 and 2015, he also conducted the ensemble’s annual Messiah performances.
Under Professor Householder’s leadership, the Windsor Classic Chorale received the Mayor’s Arts Organization of the Year Award in 1998. In May 2016, he was honored with the Windsor Endowment for the Arts Performing Arts Leadership Award.
Windsor Classic Chorale 