Meet the bloggers: Richard Kessler

Richard Kessler is currently the Dean of Mannes College The New School of Music. Previously, he served as executive director of the Center for Arts Education, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting arts education as an essential part of K–12 education in the New York City public schools. His accomplishments as CAE’s director included securing two multi-million-dollar federal grants to build art and music programs in middle schools that previously offered no arts education. He has served as executive director of the American Music Center and was vice president of Artsvision, an arts education consulting company.

Earlier in his career, Richard was a Naumburg Award-winning chamber musician. He commissioned and premiered work by prominent composers such as Arvo Pärt, Ned Rorem, Aaron Kernis, and Elliott Goldenthal. During this period, he was also active as a teacher, conducting residencies, master classes, workshops, and arts education programs for organizations such as Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and Juilliard. Richard was a faculty member of the Manhattan School of Music from 1988 to 1993. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from The Juilliard School.