Our Director
RICHARD LEWELLEN (Riptide Bari)
The Fairfax Jubil-Aires are proud to have Richard R. Lewellen as their Director of Music and Performance. Richard is well known in the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) as an accomplished a cappella vocalist (see below), chorus director (see below), barbershop harmony coach and former Singing Category judge. He started his career in barbershop as a teenager and has over 45 years of experience, and he has served as a faculty member for the Society’s annual Harmony College/Director’s College, the premier educational event for the BHS. He has also produced professional recordings, contributing as a vocalist and managing a significant portion of the post-production process. Richard has a master’s degree in Music Therapy from Shenandoah University’s Conservatory in Winchester, VA.
Richard began singing barbershop harmony in his first year of high school at Beverly Hills HS in 1978. “During my first year of High School, I met a guy who became my best friend,” he recalls. “He had just started barbershopping and his dad had started a few months earlier. I’ve enjoyed being a part of the Barbershop Harmony Society ever since.”
Listed below are some highlights from his musical experience over the years and the awards and recognitions he has received:
Musical experience
2008‐2010: Musical director, Seneca Land District Youth Chorus (SLAM), Warsaw, N.Y. (Barbershop
Harmony Society)
2007‐2010: Musical director, Friends of Harmony, East Aurora, N.Y. (Barbershop Harmony Society)
2007-2022: Certified Singing Category judge, Barbershop Harmony Society.
2003‐2006: Musical director, Alexandria Harmonizers, Alexandria, Va. (Barbershop Harmony Society).
Awards and recognition
2009: Seneca Land District Quartet Champion, singing baritone with Empire State Quartet
2005: Mid‐Atlantic District Quartet Champion, singing baritone with Four Aces
2004-2005: 4th place International Chorus Contest medalist, director of Alexandria Harmonizers
2001-2004: International Quartet Contest bronze medalist, singing baritone with Riptide
1993: Dixie District Quartet Champion, singing lead with Atlanta Power Co. Quartet, Marietta, Ga.
1990, 1993: Gold medalist as singer and lead section leader of Masters of Harmony Chorus, Calif.
1982: Far Western District Quartet Champion, singing bass with Pacifica, Santa Monica, Calif.
