Brad Richter, executive director and founder of the 501(c)3 music education organization Lead Guitar, joined the University of Arizona’s College of Fine Arts in 2013 as the Director of Outreach. Equal parts performer, composer and educator he has made nearly one-thousand concert appearances in North America and Europe – more than fifty of which were aired on NPR’s Performance Today. Since completing his Master’s degree in classical guitar at The Royal College of Music in London, Brad has performed around the globe with artists such as nine-time Grammy winner David Finckel. Brad is the winner of the National Fingerpicking Championship, the International Composer’s Guild Competition, and the National Music Teachers Association’s commissioned composer award, and he was the first guitarist ever to win the Royal College of Music’s Thomas Mohrherr Prize. He is a sought-after collaborator with artists such as cellist Viktor Uzur with whom he tours as the Richter Uzur Duo, his former mentor from the Royal College of Music, Carlos Bonell, and Broadway star Ben Vereen, as well as The Pacifica String Quartet and The Phoenix Chorale. Brad also enjoys several long-term collaborations as an artist-in-residence, including more than a decade with the Aspen Music Festival and School.

As a composer, Brad is known for his own brand of genre-mashing chamber music. Winner of the International Composer’s Guild Competition, his major commissions have included Navigating Lake Bonneville, a concert-length work for Weber State University; Duo Concerto for Cello and Guitar, co-written with Viktor Uzur for the Jackson Symphony Orchestra; Fragments Transcending, premiered by David Finckel; Devil in the Details, commissioned by the National Music Teachers Association; and the musical score for an episode of the Emmy award-winning PBS series The Desert Speaks. Brad’s collections of concert music for solo guitar are published by Mel Bay, Acoustic Music Records, GSP, and Sky Island Music. At the University of Arizona, Brad collaborates with College of Fine Arts faculty and leaders in the field of arts education to develop and operate the Arizona Arts in Schools programs, based on the Lead Guitar model. Between Lead Guitar and Arizona Arts in Schools, he oversees a carefully selected staff of 23 part- and full-time arts professionals in operating programs in 60 schools in five states.

Holly Holmes is Lead Guitar’s Director of Operations and Assistant Director of Arizona Arts in Schools outreach programs. In these two roles, Holly works behind the scenes to create teacher schedules, submit grant paperwork, and negotiate a myriad of logistical and infrastructural operations. She is the administrative force behind Arizona Arts in Schools’ programs throughout Pima and Maricopa counties; ensuring that each school’s contract is met, that funds flow through schools correctly, and, most importantly, that certified arts teachers feel as supported outside of the classroom as they do in it.

Before joining the University of Arizona, Holly worked as an administrator for both non-profit and for-profit arts organizations, including as jazz programming intern for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. As a doctoral candidate, she conducted dissertation research in Brazil as a 2011 Fulbright Scholar and taught jazz voice and history to students and teachers in Brazilian conservatories and federal universities in fluent Portuguese. She has a PhD in Ethnomusicology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has published her research with Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Holly taught music theory and world music courses at universities in the US and the UK, released two albums as a jazz vocalist, and has performed in duo with her husband guitarist Matt Warnock in the USA, Canada, Brazil, and the UK.