He was a violinist, violist and teacher born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin who studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the University of Wisconsin. He worked at the Banff Centre for the Arts Winter Program as a postgraduate.
He went on to spend 15 years as the concertmaster of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra before he and his wife, Margaret, co-founded Omaha Talent Education which had a large Suzuki violin program in 1999. During his time in Omaha he also performed and recorded with Chip Davis and Mannheim Steamroller.
He and his wife relocated to New Mexico in 2003 and began the Santa Fe Talent Education which continued to use the Suzuki method. The couple divorced but both kept the violin program going for a further 15 years.
Other teaching jobs he took on saw him on the faculties of the Eastern Music Festival, the Lincoln Suzuki Institute, Morningside College, the New Mexico Suzuki Institute, the Rocky Ridge Music Center and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He was also a guest clinician at workshops located in Amarillo and Houston in Texas and Las Cruces in New Mexico.
Still performing in New Mexico he was a member of Santa Fe Pro Musica and worked in a concert series with the pianist Kiyoshi Tamagawa where they performed all 12 of Beethoven’s sonatas for piano and violin.
A participant at music festivals he performed at the Cabrillo Music Festival, the Colorado Music Festival, the Peninsula Music Festival and the Telluride Chamber Music Festival. As a conductor, he was music director of the Santa Fe Youth Symphony Association which now awards the Rick Lohmann Memorial Scholarship in his memory.
Recordings he performed on include Christmas, Christmas Celebration and A Fresh Aire Christmas by Mannheim Steamroller and Classical Gas by Mason Williams and Mannheim Steamroller.
He died in Santa Fe, New Mexico of prostate cancer in 2022.
Mannheim Steamroller recordings
Carol of the Birds(Traditional Catlonian)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)
Coventry Carol (Traditional English/Robert Croo/Thomas Mawdyke)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)
Deck the Halls (Welsh Traditional)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)
Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella (Traditional/Emile Blemont/Marc-Antoine Charpentier/Louis-Denis Seguin)(English Translation: Edward Cuthbert Nunn)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Traditional/Anonymous)
American Gramaphone Records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)
Good King Wenceslas (John Mason Neale)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)
I Saw Three Ships (Traditional/Anonymous)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)
Wassail (Anonymous Middle Ages English/Ralph Vaughan Williams)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)
We Three Kings (Rev. John Henry Hopkins Jr.)
American Gramaphone records AG 1984 (CD: Christmas)
Sources:
- https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/santafenewmexican/name/rick-lohmann-obituary?id=33303525
- https://www.facebook.com/NewMexicoMusicCommission/posts/in-memoriam-rick-lohmannrick-lohmann-of-santa-fe-was-founder-and-co-director-of-/242304904751793/
- https://www.facebook.com/omahasymphony/photos/a.66545153489/10158371382868490/?type=3
- https://suzukiassociation.org/people/richard-lohmann/
- ttps://www.violinist.com/directory/bio.cfm?member=atthe
- https://www.sfysa.org/rick-lohmann-scholarship.html
- https://www.allmusic.com/artist/richard-lohmann-mn0002291988
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/1983348