He was an orchestral conductor born in Chicago, Illinois to a musical family. His grandfather sold sheet music, his father founded General Music Publishing and his uncle founded the American branch of Decca.
As a pianist he was a child prodigy, but studied German political history at John Hopkin’sUniversity before going to Stuttgart Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik in Germany to study conducting, composition and piano. He became a vocal coach in Switzerland and on his return to the United States he became music director at the Opera Theater of Manhattan as well as earning a law degree at New York University.
He founded the Philharmonia Virtuosi of New York in 1968 and remained their artistic director until his death. They released a successful series of classical “greatest hits” with The Greatest Hits of 1720 possibly the most successful.
He passd away from cancer at his home in 2006. He was 69 years old.
Eugen d’Albert recordings
Piano Concerto No. 2 in E,
Vox 7206 (CD: The Franz Liszt School, Vol. 1)
Conductor – Richard Kapp
Piano – Michael Ponti
Here he is conducting the Philharmonia Virtuosi in a performance of Johann Ernst Altenburg’s “Concerto in C for 7 Trumpets”…
Sources:
- http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Kapp-Richard.html
- http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/arts/music/06kapp.html?ex=1307246400&en=45d1b994dd551edb&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Kapp