Pianist Richard Roberson currently serves as dean of the School of the Arts at Messiah College, where he supervises the departments of Art and Design, Music, and Theatre and Dance. Under his leadership the School of the Arts has increased enrollment, and developed successful new programs in studio art, music performance, musical theatre, dance, digital media, and a master’s degree in conducting. He also participated in the planning and development of the High Center for Worship and Performing Arts.

 He has pursued a wide range of musical activities as a teacher, performer and composer. As a pianist he has performed throughout the United States and Canada, as well as in Greece, Italy, the United Kingdom and

Germany. He has appeared as a soloist with the Dallas Summer Symphony and the Shreveport Symphony, and despite a busy administrative schedule continues to perform as both a soloist and collaborative artist. Also a composer, his recent works include the song cycle “Tryptic;” “Suite for Clarinet;” “Fanfare for an Uncommon President” written for the inauguration of Messiah President Kim Phipps; incidental music for the play “Finding Gravity;” and the choral work “Star in the East,” commissioned by the Susquehanna Chorale for their 30th anniversary. He is a graduate of the schools of music of Indiana University and the University of North Texas, where his principal teachers were Hans Graf, Walter Robert, Larry Walz, and Bernhard Heiden.