Following a successful career in medicine, Dr. Richard Moriarty earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in Music Composition from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA, studying under Dr. Adolphus Hailstork. Post-graduation he continued private studies with Richard Danielpour in New York City and Los Angeles.

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Moriarty credits his grandfather for introducing him to classical music as a child, igniting a lifelong passion. Though he considered studying music in college, circumstances led him in another direction. Later, as an established pathologist, Moriarty continued to feel the pull of music. He studied piano and pursued music classes at a local university, but family and professional obligations forced him to delay his dream.

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With retirement came the opportunity to focus on music. Between 2006 and 2009 Moriarty studied Flamenco music in Spain at the Carmen de Las Cuevas Institute in Granada, Gregorian Chant at the Benedictine Monastery at El Valle de Los Caídos outside Madrid, and composition at the European American Musical Alliance Summer Program in Paris.

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The piano/vocal version of Moriarty's We That Wait, a song cycle featuring texts by female poets set during the American Civil War premiered in Norfolk, VA followed by the orchestral premiere at Festival Miami in 2017.

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In 2015, Moriarty's MISSA ADSUM! Celebrating Women premiered with organ accompaniment by the Old Dominion University Chorus and Schola Cantorum of Virginia. The full orchestral version premiered with the Ukrainian Festival Orchestra and Choir in Lviv, Ukraine in 2018. Both MISSA ADSUM and We That Wait are available on Toccata Classics.

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Most recently, Moriarty'sThe Tree of Life, an ecumenical prayer for religious tolerance and peace was premiered and recorded by the Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra with the Galician Academic Chamber Choir in 2024.