Prof. Dr. Eckhart H. W. Richter

Prof. Dr. Eckhart H.W. Richter, aged 94, of Atlanta, Georgia, passed away peacefully on August 4, 2021. Dr. Richter was born in Berlin, Germany, on August 29, 1926, the son of Werner and Ursula Meyer Richter. He spent his early childhood years in Berlin and Basel, Switzerland. Along with his parents, brothers, and sisters, he fled the Nazis arriving New York City, August 1, 1939, one month before the Nazis invaded Poland. He graduated from York High School in Elmhurst, Illinois in 1945. A cellist, he received his Bachelor of Arts in Music Theory in 1949 and Master of Music Theory, Cello in 1953 at Yale University School of Music and received his Doctor of Music at Florida State University School of Music in 1969. His principal cello teacher was the famed cellist, Luigi Silva. His principal music theory and composition teacher was the famed composer, Paul Hindemith, for whom he also performed as part of Hindemith’s famed Collegium Musicum at Yale and about whom he wrote numerous times in the scholarly source about the composer, Hindemith-Jahrbuch. During his career, Dr. Richter played with the Houston and National Symphony Orchestras, appeared as a soloist and chamber music player on television and radio and toured throughout the United States and Europe. For eleven summers, he served as a cello teacher, chamber music coach and Associate Musical Director at the Kinhaven Music School in Weston, Vermont. He was on the music faculty of Converse College School of Music, Mississippi State College for Women, the University of Georgia, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Emory University, where he directed the Emory Consort, and Georgia State University, from which he retired in 1995. He also composed music and taught cello privately. In retirement, he concentrated his efforts on playing Baroque cello as a founding member of the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra and the Metropolitan Baroque Players. He also sang and toured with the Atlanta Symphony Chorus from 1988 until just a few years before his death.

Dr. Richter married Rosemary Albertson Richter on June 5, 1962 in Athens, Georgia. Devoted to the end, Dr. and Mrs. Richter were married 51 years until her death in 2013 at the age of 87. A flutist and singer, they met while both working at Converse College and then married while working at the University of Georgia. Long-time members of Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, they had a very loving marriage, full of music, art, travel, family, and friends. He was preceded also in death by his parents, his brother Erich Richter, sister Valborg Richter Boyd (George), brother Goetz Richter, M.D (Lucretia).

He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, John C. and Liesa L. Richter of Harbor Springs, Michigan, Norman, Oklahoma and Chevy Chase, Maryland, his grandson John C. “Jack” Richter, Jr., of Harbor Springs, and his granddaughter, Julia Kathleen Richter of Harbor Springs. In addition, he is survived by his sister, Gisela Richter Reffel of Immenstaad, Germany, niece and nephews Monica Boyd (John Myles) of Toronto, Canada, Everett Vokes, M.D (Tamara) of Chicago, Illinois, James Richter (Melinda Wells) of Cherry Log, Georgia, Elizabeth Richter Turpin (Steven) of Muncie, Indiana, and Marianne Richter of Columbus, Georgia, as well as grandnieces, Jennifer Myles (Guillaume Bittom) of Ottawa, Canada, Ellen Richter, M.D (Lee Peifer) of Atlanta, Emily Richter (Luke Powell) of Atlanta, Natalie Vokes, M.D. (Derek Erstad) of Houston, Texas, and Katherine Vokes of Brooklyn, New York, and their respective families.

His wish was that any contributions in his name be made to the Kinhaven Music School – kinhaven.org/giving or the Sooner Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation - [email protected].

A service to remember and celebrate Dr. Richter’s life will be held at Central Presbyterian Church, 201 Washington Street, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30303 at 11 am on Friday, November 26, 2021.