Son of the then music director of the New York Philharmonic, Mr. Rodzinski was born in New York 
and raised in Chicago, South America and Europe. He returned to America in 1959 and spent his 
undergraduate years at Oberlin and Columbia, remaining at Columbia University for his graduate 
work in musicology. His ^areer as an arts administrator began in 1962 at the Festival of Two Worlds 
in Spoleto, Italy, where he was appointed the director of the theater divisions. After spending a decade 
as the Artistic Administrator of first the San Francisco Opera and later the Metropolitan Opera, 
Richard Rodzinski joined the Van Cliburn Foundation as Executive Director in 1986, and in 2000, 
was named its President. Mr. Rodzinski has served as a consultant and undertook projects for several 
organizations, including the Ford Foundation, OPERA America, and the National Endowment for the 
Arts. He is currently serving as first vice president of the World Federation of International Music 
Competitions and is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Society for the 
Performing Arts.

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