Richard W. Pickar
Guest Conductor

Richard W. Pickar has been the Musical Director-Conductor of the Galveston Symphony Orchestra since its formation in 1979.

His musical career was influenced by his mother, an accomplished violinist, and other members of his family. After sorties into piano and violin he began the study of clarinet (at age 12) with Kalman Bloch. By age 16 Mr. Pickar had become principal clarinetist of the Glendale Symphony and the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music Orchestra. He soon appeared as soloist and began conducting as backstage chorus conductor in La Boheme with the latter group. Recommended by Yehudi Menuhin, William Primrose, Gregor Piatigorsky, and others, he was selected as a Fulbright Scholar to study in Vienna where he was awarded the Diplom in Music with highest honors from the Akademic fur Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna.

At the request of Leopold Stokowski he came to Houston to become the principal Clarinetist of the Houston Symphony, a position he retained until his retirement in 1990.

Mr. Pickar has held faculty positions at Sam Houston State University and Rice University, serving as Chairman of the Woodwind Department at the Shepherd School of Music.

Maestro Pickar has also been the musical director of the Houston Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Balalaika Society Orchestra and the Houston Contemporary Ensemble.