Richard T. Gill

Last updated February 18, 2019

Richard Thomas Gill (November 30, 1927 – October 25, 2010) was an American economist and opera singer. He held several teaching and administrative positions at Harvard University over a period of twenty-two years. He was Assistant Dean of Harvard College, Allston Burr Senior Tutor (Dean) of Leverett House, and Teaching Fellow, Instructor, and Assistant Professor of Economics. In 1963, he received tenure as Lecturer on Economics and Master of Leverett House.

Economist professional in the social science discipline of economics

An economist is a practitioner in the social science discipline of economics.

Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with about 6,700 undergraduate students and about 15,250 post graduate students. Established in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, clergyman John Harvard, Harvard is the United States' oldest institution of higher learning, and its history, influence, and wealth have made it one of the world's most prestigious universities.

Leverett House is one of twelve undergraduate residential Houses at Harvard University. It is situated along the north bank of the Charles River in Cambridge and consists of McKinlock Hall, constructed in 1925; two 12-story towers completed in 1960; and two floors of 20 DeWolfe Street, a building Leverett shares with two other houses at Harvard. It has the largest student population within the Harvard house system.

Gill was born on November 30, 1927, in Long Branch, New Jersey. Though he did not study voice formally, Richard was a boy soprano in his church choir and played the clarinet. At 16 he entered Harvard, where he sang in the glee club. Gill left Harvard to serve in the United States Army where he saw duty during the American Occupation of Japan. After completing his military service, he returned to Harvard, where he completed his undergraduate degree in 1948. He came back to Harvard after doing graduate work in philosophy at the University of Oxford and was named an assistant dean at Harvard at the age of 21. He earned a Ph.D. in economics from the university in 1956.^[1]

Long Branch is a beachside city in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 30,719, reflecting a decline of 621 (-2.0%) from the 31,340 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 2,682 (+9.4%) from the 28,658 counted in the 1990 Census.

The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution. As the oldest and most senior branch of the U.S. military in order of precedence, the modern U.S. Army has its roots in the Continental Army, which was formed to fight the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783)—before the United States of America was established as a country. After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784 to replace the disbanded Continental Army. The United States Army considers itself descended from the Continental Army, and dates its institutional inception from the origin of that armed force in 1775.

The Allied occupation of Japan at the end of World War II was led by General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, with support from the British Commonwealth. Unlike in the occupation of Germany, the Soviet Union was allowed little to no influence over Japan. This foreign presence marks the only time in Japan's history that it has been occupied by a foreign power. The country became a parliamentary democracy that recalled "New Deal" priorities of the 1930s by Roosevelt. The occupation, codenamed Operation Blacklist, was ended by the San Francisco Peace Treaty, signed on September 8, 1951, and effective from April 28, 1952, after which Japan's sovereignty – with the exception, until 1972, of the Ryukyu Islands – was fully restored.

Harvard career

For over a decade, he directed Economics 1, which became the largest elective course in the previous history of Harvard College. He also taught courses in economic development, public policy, and economic theory for both graduate and undergraduate students.

He was a member of numerous university committees, including the Committee on Educational Policy, the Administrative Board, the Kimball Fund, the Committee on Admissions and Scholarships, and the Ford Faculty Fellowship Program. He was the co-author of a major report on the reform of the Harvard General Education Program, and the sole author of a report on Harvard's honors and tutorial programs.

Opera career

Richard Gill left Harvard in 1971 and spent the next decade and a half as an opera singer. He made his debut as principal artist (bass) with the New York City Opera, his roles there including Sarastro ( The Magic Flute ), Enrico ( Anna Bolena ), Sir Giorgio ( I Puritani ), Seneca ( Poppea ), Colline ( La bohème ), Pogner ( Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg ), and others.

Opera is a form of theatre in which music has a leading role and the parts are taken by singers, but is distinct from musical theater. Such a "work" is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor.

The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through 2013, and again since 2016 when it was revived.

The Magic Flute, K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work was premiered on 30 September 1791 at Schikaneder's theatre, the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, just two months before the composer's premature death.

He made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1973. His roles there included Pimen ( Boris Godunov ), Friar Laurence ( Roméo et Juliette ), Timur ( Turandot ), Iero ( Siege of Corinth ), Commendatore ( Don Giovanni ), and others.

The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager. As of 2018, the company's current music director is Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881). The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles, and his nemesis, the False Dmitriy. The Russian-language libretto was written by the composer, and is based on the drama Boris Godunov by Aleksandr Pushkin, and, in the Revised Version of 1872, on Nikolay Karamzin's History of the Russian State.

Roméo et Juliette is an opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It was first performed at the Théâtre Lyrique, Paris on 27 April 1867. This opera is notable for the series of four duets for the main characters and the waltz song "Je veux vivre" for the soprano.

He appeared as principal artist with the opera companies of Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Boston, Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, Caracas. Toronto, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, and many others. He was in several world premieres including Philip Glass's Satyagraha.

He also appeared as a soloist with symphony orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic (under Leonard Bernstein), the Boston Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, and many others. His radio appearances included several Texaco Metropolitan broadcasts, Chicago Lyric broadcasts, and broadcasts of the New York City Opera, New York Philharmonic, and Radio France, Paris. He also appeared in a telecast of Joan of Arc produced by the Canadian National Opera.

The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is one of the leading American orchestras popularly referred to as the "Big Five". The Philharmonic's home is David Geffen Hall, located in New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Leonard Bernstein was an American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer, and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the US to receive worldwide acclaim. According to music critic Donal Henahan, he was "one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history."

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1880 by Joseph Otten as the St. Louis Choral Society, the St. Louis Symphony is the second-oldest professional symphony orchestra in the United States, preceded only by the New York Philharmonic. Its principal concert venue is Powell Hall.

While a singer, he was elected to the Board of Governors and subsequently First Vice President of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), the principal union for classical operatic singers, ballet dancers, and stage directors in the United States.

The American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) is the American labor union that represents about 8,000 active and retired opera singers, ballet and other dancers, opera directors, backstage production personnel at opera and dance companies, and figure skaters.

Media career

Gill was the primary economic analyst on the Annenberg–CPB television series Economics U$A.^[2]

He had written 11 textbooks, one novel (The Taking of Farnham Hall: Searching for Reality in the 1960s, 2003), and several short stories.

A resident of Chocorua, New Hampshire, Gill died of heart failure at the age of 82 on October 25, 2010 in Providence, Rhode Island.^[1]

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References

1 2 Fox, Margalit. "Richard T. Gill, Economist and Opera Singer, Dies at 82", The New York Times , October 28, 2010. Accessed October 28, 2010.
↑ "Resource: Economics U$A: 21st Century Edition". www.learner.org. Retrieved 2018-05-20.

External links

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[NYTObit-1] 1 2 Fox, Margalit. "Richard T. Gill, Economist and Opera Singer, Dies at 82", The New York Times , October 28, 2010. Accessed October 28, 2010.

[2] "Resource: Economics U$A: 21st Century Edition". www.learner.org. Retrieved 2018-05-20.