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OUR COMPOSERS
Richard DeLong
Richard DeLong, organist, harpsichordist, conductor, composer, and clinician, was born in Mansfield, Ohio, on September 17, 1951, and died on September 7, 1994 in Dallas, Texas. He received the degree of Bachelor of Music from Ashland College in 1973, graduating summa cum laude, first in his class. In 1976 he received with highest honors the degrees of Master of Music and Master of Sacred Music from Southern Methodist University. His teachers included Robert Anderson, Larry Palmer, Lloyd Pfautsch, Roger Deschner, and Carlton Young. As a recitalist DeLong performed across the United States and in Europe. As an accompanist keyboardist, he performed with some of the nation's leading choral conductors. His work as a composer became recognized nationally following the premiere of his "Deus Creator Omnium" at the opening of the 1985 Regional American Guild of Organists convention in Providence, RI. Having works in print with twelve different publishers, he was regularly commissioned to write new ones. For twleve years Mr. DeLong was Director of Music for the Roman Catholic parish of St. Mark the Evangelist, in Plano, Texas, a position he held until his death. His own choir sang the premiere performances of nearly 100 choral works. A past dean of the Dallas Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (1981-83), he was an advocate for the performance of new liturgical music. Mr. DeLong was also an avid collector of twentieth-century art.