Dr. Richard Yaklich graduated as Salutatorian from East in 1983.  In 1989 he earned a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Southern Colorado, a Masters of Art in Music from Colorado State University, and in 1996 a Doctorate from the University of South Carolina.  He attended the Tanglewood Music Center where he studied conducting with such notables as Gustav Meier, Charles Dutoit, Leon Fleisher, Maurice Abravanel and Seiji Ozawa.  He conducted the Alhambra Orchestra of Miami, FL., served as assistant conductor of the Kingsport, Tennessee Symphony Orchestra and Choir, and was Artistic Director and Conductor of the University of Southern Colorado Chamber Orchestra.

Currently he is Director of Assessment at Florida Memorial University.  He is also an active cellist and composer and has had works performed by the Colorado Symphony and the Filharmonic de Stat Satu in Romania.  His original composition, “Theme and Variations for Orchestra” was performed by the South Florida Youth Orchestra in January 2003, and “ In Memorium ” was given its world primer at the University of Miami in 2007.  He is also a published author with his book The Struggle for Life in the Middle Ages and the Chaos of the Renaissance, published by Author House in 2009.  In 2010, Linus Publications published his text book on Music Form and Analysis.

He is the winner of the Walter Charles Conducting Fellowship, Colorado Art and Humanities, Grant, and Allied Arts, Inc. Grant, and a member of the Gustav Bahier Society, American Symphony Orchestra League and Conductor’s Guild.