Choir Director
Ph.D., M. Music
Concordia University, Minnesota

Dr. Ralph C. Schultz

Born in Illinois in 1932, Ralph C. Schultz began to study music when he was five years old. As a child he showed an early interest in and aptitude for composition and music that developed into a life long passion. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree at the Cosmopolitan School of Music in Chicago in 1954, simultaneously completing a Bachelor of Science in Education at Concordia University, River Forest, Illinois.

Upon graduation Schultz married Dorothy Nickel and the couple began teaching careers in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1955 Schultz enrolled at the University of Michigan to study organ with Robert Noehren and composition with Ross Lee Finney. He later transferred to the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied composition with Marcel Dick, a close associate of Arnold Schoenberg, and received his Master of Music in theory and composition in 1960. At the same time, Schultz served as organist and choir director at Trinity Lutheran Church and conducted the Cleveland Lutheran Chorus and Orchestra in a number of concerts and television appearances each year.

In 1961, Schultz became chair of the music department at Concordia College, Bronxville. Under his direction the Concordia Choir received critical acclaim for performances around the world. As a young faculty member, Schultz pursued a doctorate in music education at Columbia University, but later transferred to Union Theological Seminary where he earned the Sacred Music Doctorate in 1967. A noted composer of sacred and secular music, Schultz has numerous organ, choral, and orchestral works to his credit, including Lutheran Chorale Mass, To Him Be Glory, and Praise God with Hearts and Voices. Schultz and his wife Dorothy have collaborated on many compositions, including special music for their children’s weddings and grandchildren’s baptisms.

Schultz became President of Concordia College, Bronxville in 1976, remaining conductor of the Concordia Choir. He was a member of the Synodical Worship Commission that produced the Worship Supplement, The Lutheran Book of Worship, and Lutheran Worship. He also served as a member of the President's Commission on Synodical Higher Education and was a member of the board and president of the Lutheran Educational Conference of North America. Schultz retired from the presidency of Concordia College in June of 1998 and was named President Emeritus and Professor of Music Emeritus. Festivities surrounding his retirement culminated in a reunion of more than 220 alumni who had sung for him between 1961 and 1998. This ensemble produced a magnificent recording and performed to a sell out crowd at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center. In his retirement, Schultz remains active as a consultant, author, and composer.