BIOGRAPHY
Richard H. Perry is Associate Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he directs the tuba-euphonium ensemble and performs with the Southern Arts Brass Quintet. He was previously on the faculties of the University of Montevallo and Birmingham-Southern College. Dr. Perry hold degrees from Tennessee Technological University (B.S., Music Education), the University of Illinois (MM, Tuba), and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (DMA, Tuba). His principal teachers were R. Winston Morris, Fritz Kaenzig, and John Stevens. Dr. Perry has been active as a clinician, performer, and adjudicator throughout the United States. He has appeared as a soloist and featured performer at numerous regional, national, and international conferences.
Dr. Perry’s primary interests are the tuba-euphonium ensemble, and the use of the tuba in jazz. He was one of the founding members of the Modern Jazz Tuba Project, a professional jazz tuba ensemble that released two critically-acclaimed recordings (Live at the Bottom Line and Favorite Things). He has twice been featured as a jazz artist at the International Tuba-Euphonium Conference (2010 and 2019).
With the University of Southern Mississippi Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble, Dr. Perry has appeared at five International Tuba-Euphonium Conferences, numerous regional tuba-euphonium conferences, the Mississippi Bandmasters’ Association State Clinic, and school and public performances in Hattiesburg and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He is a prolific arranger for tuba-euphonium ensemble, and his arrangements have been performed by the Tennessee Tech Tuba Ensemble, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble, the University of Georgia, and Symphonia.
With Dr. Charles McAdams, Dr. Perry is co-author of The Tennessee Tech Tuba Ensemble and R. Winston Morris: A 40th Anniversary Retrospective, published by The Scarecrow Press as part of their American Wind Band Series. Dr. Perry has also written several biographical entries in the New Grove Dictionary of American Music.
Dr. Perry is currently principal tuba in the Meridian Symphony Orchestra, and was formerly principal tuba in the Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra. He performs frequently with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra as well as freelancing throughout the Gulf Coast area.
