Richard Dworsky
Encyclopedia
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
, a composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, and appears weekly on the A Prairie Home Companion
A Prairie Home Companion
A Prairie Home Companion is a live radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor. The show runs on Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Central Time, and usually originates from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota, although it is frequently taken on the road...
public radio variety show from American Public Media
American Public Media
American Public Media is the second largest producer of public radio programs in the United States of America after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and operates radio stations in Minnesota, California, and Florida. Its station brands are Minnesota Public Radio,...
as the resident pianist and band leader. He has released several CDs of his own instrumental music compositions, and his piano piece "A Morning With the Roses" appears on many Windham Hill Records
Windham Hill Records
Windham Hill Records is a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment specializing in Acoustic, New Age and Folk music. Originally founded in 1976 as an Independent record label by guitarist and carpenter William Ackerman and his then-wife Anne Robinson, Windham Hill was a successful and well-respected...
collections, including Piano Sampler, Windows — 25 Years of Windham Hill Piano, and Windham Hill Chill — Ambient/Acoustic. He also released a collection of solo piano arrangements of 1960s rock music titled Back to the Garden.
He composed a musical version of L. Frank Baum
L. Frank Baum
Lyman Frank Baum was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
's The Marvelous Land of Oz
The Marvelous Land of Oz
The Marvelous Land of Oz: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, commonly shortened to The Land of Oz, published on July 5, 1904, is the second of L. Frank Baum's books set in the Land of Oz, and the sequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This and the next...
, which was premiered by the Children's Theatre Company
Children's Theatre Company
The Children's Theatre Company is a regional theatre established in 1961 in Minneapolis, Minnesota specializing in plays for families and young audiences and the recipient of a 2003 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre...
of Minneapolis in 1981, and was filmed for presentation on Showtime and MCA Video
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Universal Studios Home Entertainment is the home video division of Universal Pictures...
. He appeared on camera as the pianist and band leader in the Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
film A Prairie Home Companion
A Prairie Home Companion (film)
A Prairie Home Companion is a 2006 ensemble comedy elegy directed by Robert Altman, and was his final film, released just five months before his death...
(2006), and behind the scenes served as that film's conductor, pianist, arranger, and composer. He also plays the synthesizer and the organ.
Richard was born and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
. His sister, Sally Dworsky
Sally Dworsky
Sally Dworsky is an American singer-songwriter. She has been an important voice actress and singer in animated films such as Shrek, The Lion King and The Prince of Egypt in addition to releasing her own albums. She has also performed on A Prairie Home Companion. Her brother is Richard Dworsky...
, is a singer and voice actor and his other sister Shosh Dworsky is the assistant chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
and rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
at Carleton College
Carleton College
Carleton College is an independent non-sectarian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, USA. The college enrolls 1,958 undergraduate students, and employs 198 full-time faculty members. In 2012 U.S...
.