The Legacy Lives On
February 8, 2008
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95
days since
our celebration.
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Richard M. Raub was an Orange Coast College music professor and choral director for 23 years. He died October 5th, 2007, following a long battle with lymphoma. This site posted information for those who wanted to attend or participate in the memorial concert held on February 8th, 2008 and the memorial service held the following morning.
Information regarding the ordering of Audio CD's of these events will be posted as soon as all the details are know. Stay in touch.
Please sign the guest book and share your memories and good wishes.
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~ RICHARD M. RAUB ~
Richard Raub was an Orange Coast College music professor and choral director for 23 years. He died Oct. 5th, 2007, following a long battle with lymphoma. He joined OCC's faculty in 1970, and retired in 1993.
A native of Wichita Falls, Tex., Richard came by his musical ability naturally. His father was a violinist and Juilliard School of Music graduate. At the age of four, Richard began studying the violin and piano. In high school he joined the school choir and was enthralled with the possibilities of the human voice.
Richard earned his bachelor's degree in voice and master's in conducting at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J. As a member of the Westminster Choir, he sang under such masters of the podium as Dimitri Mitropoulos, Guido Cantelli, Leopold Stokowski and Bruno Walter.
Richard said he learned the most working under great conductors, not because he studied their conducting techniques but from the "greatness" that each conductor exuded, and how he "felt" about the music. The former OCC choral director did additional postgraduate work at the University of Oregon.
Richard held full-time church music positions in Texas and California, and was an interim professor of music at Whittier College in the mid-1960s. He inaugurated the music program at Saddleback College in 1968, and was spirited away by Orange Coast College two years later.
After he took over OCC's choirs, things transformed rapidly and dramatically. Richard loved the challenge of preparing his OCC choral groups to sing great works of music by great composers. He chose works rarely performed in Southern California, and was undaunted by the degree of difficulty of the work he selected. "Known for building voices and character in his followers, Richard carried a torch of love and a demand for quality," said Karen McBride, who taught music at OCC from 1979-93. "In a time when the ordinary had become commonplace, Richard excelled at creating wonderful music and musicians. His influence will live in the lives of those who had the privilege of knowing him."
His students saw him as a director who was obsessed with details. Richard had a reputation for being tough on his choirs. He drilled his singers extensively, and demanded perfection. "Richard brought out the best in his singers and also expected the best from them," said Patricia McFarland, a member of the Chorale from 1982-92. "We worked very hard for him during rehearsal because he taught us that we needed to do justice to the music. "It was never enough to go through the motions of singing a piece of music; we needed to respect the composer and the notes and nuances on a score. Richard was tireless in his expectations of what good singing entailed, yet to see a look of absolute delight on his face was worth all the hard work."
Highly esteemed by musicians and critics the world over, he brought great respect and acclaim for more than two decades to Orange Coast College and its Visual and Performing Arts Division.
Link to the Daily Pilot Article which preceded
the Brahms concert of November 17th, 2007:
http://www.dailypilot.com/articles/2007/11/11/education/dpt-oncampus04.txt
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