Robert S. Webb Jr. has
been Music Director of the Northern Virginia
Chorale for more than twenty years. Mr. Webb assumed the
directorship of the chorale in the fall of 1982 from the Reverend
Jack Martin, who founded the chorale as a community organization
in 1975. Under Mr. Webb’s talented leadership,
the chorale has continually provided quality music to audiences
attracted from across Northern Virginia. He has fostered the chorale’s
musical relationships with English, French, and Italian choirs with whom it has been associated, through
a series of exchange concerts and visits. Mr. Webb has also directed
the chorale in several prestigious venues in Europe, including
Salisbury Cathedral in England, the Basilica of St. Mark, and
the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in Venice, Italy.
Mr.
Webb is an associate professor of music at Northern Virginia Community
College, Annandale campus, where he also directs the NOVA Chorus and the Chamber Singers; and teaches composition, music appreciation,
theory, conducting and voice. Additionally, he serves as an adjunct professor
at George Mason University where he teaches graduate courses in
music education. Mr. Webb is also the director of the extensive music
program at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Springfield. He
was previously the director of music at Kirkwood Presbyterian Church
in Springfield, and at Grace United Methodist Church in Manassas.
He has a broad range of experience in conducting, performing,
and instrumental music as well as in his work with many vocal organizations.
Early in his professional career, Mr. Webb played the trumpet in the U.S.
Navy band in Washington, D.C. He has since played trumpet with
the Richmond Symphony, the Filene Center Orchestra, the Virginia
Chamber Orchestra, along with other groups. He has conducted the
Prince William Symphony, the NIH Orchestra, and the Federal
City Silver Cornet Band.
Mr.
Webb earned a Master’s degree in music at the Catholic University
of America, where he studied orchestral conducting with Frederick
Fennell and Lloyd Geisler. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree
at Ithaca College, in New York state. He has also studied vocal and
instrumental music with John Rutter, Robert Shaw, Paul Christiansen,
Joseph Flummerfelt, Sir David Willcocks, Dr. Richard Lert, Lloyd
Geisler, Leslie Bennet and Raymond McGuire. Mr. Webb is a member
of the American Choral Directors Association, and
has served as its Chairman of Community Choruses.
Raymond
Freeman, organist at Grace Presbyterian Church, Springfield, Virginia
since 1999, is an accomplished pianist, organist, and cellist
who has performed in the Northern Virginia area for over forty
years. His experience as a church organist dates back to 1965,
and includes positions at Resurrection Lutheran, Arlington Methodist,
and Kirkwood Presbyterian churches. He frequently performs as
a solo pianist and has appeared several times with the Arlington
Symphony Orchestra. He was guest artist at Arlington Forest Methodist
Church in a dedicatory organ recital in 1973. He has also performed
as a cellist with the American Light Opera Company and the Arlington
Symphony Orchestra. He is currently accompanist not only for the
Northern Virginia Chorale, but also for the Ron Freeman Chorale.
Dr. Freeman holds a Ph.D. degree in theoretical physics from M.I.T.
