I have
been conducting ensembles in Boston, Vienna, and Manila for over
25 years. For my performance of Handel’s Acis
and Galatea in November
2004, Richard Dyer of The Boston Globe wrote, “The playing and
singing, under the direction of Richard A. A. Larraga, was trim
and stylish...The chorus of nine offered disciplined ensemble work,
excellent intonation, and attractive tone -- qualities shared with
the early-instrument orchestra of 10 under the alert, responsive,
and lively direction of Larraga.”
My performance of Haydn’s Mass
in Time of War in November 2004, prompted critic Jeff Rapsis of
the Hippo Press to write, “The best moments were the busy passages
where everything is going at once; Larraga kept it all in balance
and the clarity of texture did ample justice to Haydn's contrapuntal
mastery.”
Internationally trained in Vienna and Boston as a
conductor and musicologist, I studied at Boston University, the
Konservatorium Wien (Vienna Conservatory) and earned a Master of
Music degree in Choral Conducting from the New England Conservatory
(NEC) under Simon Carrington, who has described me as “an excellent
musician who enjoys a wide range of training experiences in all
disciplines of the choral and instrumental art.”
I am presently the Organist and Choir Director at
the First Congregational Church of Holliston (UCC), Massachusetts.
I have just begun work on a Doctor of Education degree
at Northeastern University specializing in Organizational Leadership
and Communication.
In the summer of 2005, I participated in the Conductors
Institute in Mendoza, Argentina, studying with Dr. Donald Portnoy.
In the summer of 2004, I participated in the intensive Conducting
Master Classes of the Oregon Bach Festival, studying with master
conductor Helmuth Rilling.
I have held teaching positions at the Longy School
of Music (Cambridge, MA), St. Scholastica's College (Manila, Philippines),
the University of the Philippines (Quezon City, Philippines), and
the Asian Institute for Liturgy and Music (Manila, Philippines).
I have conducted Harvard University's Musica Modus Vivendi, The
North Shore Players, the Harvard Gilbert and Sullivan Society,
the MIT Summer Opera, and the Pilgrim Festival Chorus.
Previously, I served as conductor of the German ensemble,
Sängerchor Boston, Associate Conductor of the Nashua Symphony Association,
the Children’s Choirs Repertoire and Standards Chair for the Massachusetts
Chapter of the American Choral Director’s Association (ACDA) and
was a Member-at-Large of the Rhode Island Chapter of the ACDA.
My conducting work has been supported by grants from the Brookwood
School Parents Association. I make my home in Dedham, Massachusetts
with my wife, daughter, and our three cats, Wotan, Siegfried, and
Brünnhilde.
