Richard Lalli

Richard Lalli, professor emeritus of music (adjunct), taught in the Yale School of Music from 1982 until 1999; he then joined the faculty of the Department of Music. From 2001 until 2006 he was music director of the Yale Collegium Musicum, and from 2007 until 2010 he was artistic director of the Yale Baroque Opera Project. Professor Lalli also developed the Shen Curriculum for Musical Theater. In March of 2008, he was designated the eleventh head of Jonathan Edwards College, a position he relinquished because of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Professor Lalli has performed around the world as a singer and pianist. Highlights include solo recitals at London’s Wigmore Hall and other European venues, performances of Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon with Peter Serkin and the Brentano String Quartet, as well as appearances with Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the Folger Consort. Professor Lalli is a champion of new music, having premiered works of Pulitzer Prize recipients Ned Rorem and Lewis Spratlan. With pianist Gary Chapman, he has recorded four discs of popular songs; their recording accompanies a Yale University Press publication, Listening to Classical American Popular Songs, by Allen Forte.  

In 2006 Professor Lalli was awarded the Sidonie Miskimin Clauss Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Humanities at Yale University. His recording of Yehudi Wyner’s The Mirror was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2005. In 2010 the Yale School of Music presented him its Distinguished Alumni Award.