Richard Ellsasser

Organist, composer and conductor, educated at Oberlin College, Baldwin-Wallace (BM), New York University, Boston University, the School of Theology, and the USC School of Religion (M. Th.). He studied organ with Winslow Cheney and Albert Reimenschneider. At seven, he toured the Eastern states as an organist with symphony orchestras. He made his New York debut in 1937. He founded and directed the Bach Circle of Boston, and served as minister of music at the Wilshire Methodist Church in Los Angeles., later creaing and directing a series of music festivals. He was a Life Fellow of the International Institute of Arts and Letters in Switzerland, and the minister of recitals at the First Congregational Church in Los Angeles, and he made many recordings. He joined ASCAP in 1958.