Dr. Richard L. Byrd

Assistant Director thru 2004; Director 2004-2008

Dr. Richard L. Byrd holds degrees from the University of South Alabama in Mobile and the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa where he studied composition, trombone, and conducting. Acquiring additional coursework in theory and electronic music, he taught college-level courses for six years, then moved to a private secondary institution in Indiana as an instructor and headmaster before redeploying his vocational focus to information technology. After moving to Chicago, he worked in medical software technologies at Northwestern University, then rode the dot-com beast to immolation with a mid-sized startup. Dr. Byrd is now president and CEO of Houston-based Technical Operations, Inc.

His works have been performed over the southeast, Chicago, Michigan and California, and he is the founding conductor of the Alabama Composer's Orchestra, as well as being active in the southeast as a composer, conductor, and low brass clinician.