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Curriculum Vitae

Richard Veleta
Professor — Piano, Harpsichord

Room 339, Swope Music Building
Phone: 610-436-2753
rveleta@wcupa.edu

Thoughts on SOM
Because of its location, West Chester University School of Music has the opportunity of taking advantage of the highly developed musical culture of nearby Philadelphia. The high standards of making music in a major city with an internationally acclaimed orchestra and chamber music series are incalable assets for students at West Chester. Excellence of performance and preeminence in music education: this is a combination for which West Chester is noted. Performers who can teach; teachers who can perform: a critical pairing of accomplishments to insure success professionally and satisfaction personally.

Mission at SOM
Music is the joy of my life. It is my privilege to share this with my students.

Curriculum Vitae

Education

Richard Veleta received his BM, MM, and Doctorate in Keyboard Performance from Northwestern University. Research specialties include keyboard works of Domenico Scarlatti, Robert Schumann, Claude Debussy, and Ernest Bloch. Post-doctoral studies have been completed at the Univesity of Colorado where he was a Danforth Fellow in art history. Wellesley College and the Peabody Conservatory have been sites of workshops in performance of Haydn and Mozart on the fortepiano, the eighteenth century predecessor of the modern grand piano.

His solo credits include Carnegie Recital Hall in New York and the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and as pianist of the Pennsylvania Ballet, many performances in the Walnut Street Theater, the Schubert Theater, the Academy of Music, and the Brooklyn Academy. Chamber music has been a major interest. Since, 1986 Dr. Veleta has been artistic director of the RoseTree Concert Series in Media, Pa. In these concerts he has collaborated with major artists from the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, the City Center Opera of New York, the Marlboro Chamber Music Festival, and the Penn Contemporary Players of the University of Pennsylvania.

At West Chester Univeristy since 1965, Professor Veleta has served as Department Chair and Graduate Coordinator. Besides private instruction, repertoire, and accompanying classes, he regularly offers a series of five historically presented courses in keyboard literature: Baroque, Classic, Romantic, Twentieth Century, and the Piano Concerto. Dr. Veleta has received two awards from the university:

In 1980 he appeared on the Honored Alumni Recital Series at Northwestern University, and in 1983 was Artist in Residence at Gettysburg College. West Chester Univeristy has twice given him awards: in 1994 the Irving H. Cowen FacultyMerit Award for Academic Excellence, and in 2002 the Benjamin Whitten Award for Creative Teaching. In Salzburg, Austria, under the auspices of the Pennsylvania Consortium for International Education, Dr. Veleta has taught courses in Mozart and in Lieder Accompanying.

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