Richard A. Zogaib

Clarinet

Email: richard.zogaib@fiu.edu

Richard A. Zogaib has built a distinguished career as a performer, educator and conductor. A graduate of Westminster Christian School (FL), U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Training (SC), the Armed Forces School of Music (VA) and VanderCook College of Music (IL), he served with honor and distinction as a rifleman, clarinetist and saxophonist with the bands of the 2nd Marine Division (NC) and the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force (Japan).

During his tenure with “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in Washington (DC), Staff Sergeant Zogaib served in the nation’s oldest continuously active music library and performed with the clarinet choir, and at numerous ceremonial events with the historic band, frequently at the Pentagon and White House.

An accomplished recorder player, SSgt Zogaib made history in 1995 by introducing the alto recorder in a performance of Handel’s Sonata in A Minor, marking this the first reported use of the flûte à bec in a concert by “The President’s Own” since its founding in 1798. In the following year, he performed Corelli’s Variations on La Follia.

Mr. Zogaib has served as principal clarinetist and assistant conductor with the Pan-American Symphony Orchestra in Washington (DC), and has performed with the Miami Bach Society and other renowned ensembles under celebrated conductors.

An alumnus of the South Florida Youth Symphony, he has served as the ensemble’s associate conductor since 2018. A sought-after clarinet and classical saxophone clinician, Mr. Zogaib has mentored students who have earned significant talent scholarships to prestigious institutions, including the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Eastman School of Music and the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University. In recognition of his contributions to music, he was inducted as an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi.

Since 2015, Mr. Zogaib has directed the highly acclaimed 50-member South Florida Clarinet Choir “Les Art Nouveau Chalumeaux.” Hosted by FIU’s Wertheim School of Music, it is the largest interscholastic ensemble of its kind in Florida. The ensemble celebrated its 10th anniversary with a special concert featuring guest artists from “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band.

Mr. Zogaib studied clarinet under Ruth Rhodes, both clarinet and saxophone with Richard Diefenderfer and recorders with Walter Baxter. In the fall of 2024, he was appointed to instruct and guide the next generation of clarinetists at FIU.