Prof. Richard Kurth

Professor and Director,
University of British Columbia School of Music

After undergraduate studies in mathematics (B.Sc., University of Toronto) and graduate studies in Oboe performance with Bert Lucarelli (M.Mus., Hartt School of Music) and Robert Bloom and Sara Lambert Bloom (Artist Diploma programme, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music), Richard Kurth earned the Ph.D. in Music Theory at Harvard University, under the supervision of David Lewin.  Kurth's research interests include theory and analysis of 19th- and 20th-century repertoires, connections between music and poetry in vocal music, and relations between performance and analysis.  His numerous publications on diverse aspects of Arnold Schoenberg's music have appeared as chapters in the Cambridge Companion to Schoenberg and in three other edited volumes, and as articles in Music Theory Spectrum and the Journal of the Arnold Schönberg Center.  Additional articles on theoretical and analytical dimensions of twelve-tone music have appeared in the Journal of Music Theory and Theory and Practice, and essays on Schubert's vocal and instrumental music have appeared in 19th-Century Music.  Kurth was co-recipient of the 1993 Society for Music Theory Young Scholar Award, and has served on the Review Board of Music Theory Spectrum.  His research has received grant funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.  He has been a faculty member at McGill University (1992-93), the University of Western Ontario (1993-94), and at the University of British Columbia since 1994.  He has served as Director of the UBC School of Music since July 2007, and in 2012 was reappointed for a second term extending to July 2018.  As Director, he has supervised renovation of its Opera Theatre (535 seats) and Recital Hall (255 seats), evolution of its curriculum, and renewal of one third of the full-time faculty positions.