Rick Edinger

Rick Edinger is an accomplished music director, vocal coach, pianist, and actor. Currently, he serves as Associate Professor of Music Theater/ Vocal Coach/ Music Director at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama. Edinger is in the process of writing and editing his first book, The National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s Nuts & Bolts Guide to Producing New Musicals. As a strong advocate for the development of new works, he plays a large role in the National Alliance for Musical Theatre’s annual endeavors & Festival of New Musicals, including curating the annual festival shows with a team of leading artistic directors and academics in the theatre industry.

Edinger began his career as an actor, appearing in the 2004 Tony nominated Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures and the Broadway benefit concert production of Children and Art: A Tribute to Stephen Sondheim on the Eve of his 75th Birthday. Regionally, he has performed in Symphony Space’s Wall to Wall Sondheim, Roundabout Theatre Company’s 40th Anniversary Gala at Chelsea Piers, Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, Mount Washington Valley Theatre Company, and many houses across the United States and Europe. His television appearances include As the World Turns, Love Monkey, and Starved. He has also been featured on the 2004 Broadway revival recording of Pacific Overtures with PS CLASSICS and Wall to Wall Sondheim with XM SATELLITE RADIO.

Edinger has served as music director, vocal coach, and accompanist for numerous academic institutions. Edinger recently served as Music Director for Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre’s productions of Hairspray and Newsies. In the summer of 2018, Edinger will join the faculty of ArtsBridge Summer Music Theatre. In the 2016-2017 season, he served as vocal director for Hunter Opera Theatre’s performance in Kristin Chenoweth’s My Love Letter to Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. He has been a guest music director at New York University Tisch School of the Performing Arts and served on faculty at The County College of Morris and The College of Saint Elizabeth. Other institutions and projects include The City University of New York- Hunter College & Brooklyn College, Bronx Opera, Coópera: Project Opera of Manhattan, Brightest Star School of the Performing Arts, Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, Mount Washington Valley Theatre Company, and The Talent Company. He has also worked as a collaborative pianist with Broadway performers and singers from the Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera, and more. As a vocal coach in New York for over 10 years, Edinger’s former and current clients have performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, on national/ international tours, and in regional houses across the globe. He maintains a private studio as vocal coach in New York & Pittsburgh.

Edinger’s children’s musical, Alice, written in collaboration with Joe Barros (Artistic Director, New York Theatre Barn) and based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, was performed at Out of the Box Theatrics (NY) and Weathervane Playhouse (NH) in the 2018 summer season with a potential international premiere in China in Spring 2019.

Edinger trained at Manhattan School of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, Brooklyn College, and Hunter College. He has studied piano with Gerardo Teissonniere and Geoffrey Burleson and studied voice with Mignon Dunn, Joan Caplan, and Maitland Peters. He is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television & Radio Artists.