KEYNOTE AWARD 2022 – Rick Ghinelli

Rick Ghinelli graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelor of Music Education and began his career in the Spring Independent School District (Houston, Texas) as a middle school band director. During that time, his bands earned a number of awards on both the local and state levels, and he was named Teacher of the Year for his school. Mr. Ghinelli later earned his Masters of Administration from Sam Houston State University, and he continued his career in Spring ISD as an elementary assistant principal, a middle school assistant principal, and a middle school principal.

In 2000, he assumed the role of Director of Performing and Visual Arts for the district, a position he held until his retirement in 2013. While serving in this position, fine arts programs in Spring ISD gained notoriety for their excellent work and were frequent recipients of the highest honors at the local, state, and national levels of competition. Following his retirement from Spring ISD, Mr. Ghinelli began working as the Director of Music Administration Outreach and Educational Support Manager, Southwest Region, in the Division of Education for Conn Selmer, Inc.

Mr. Ghinelli has been active in many aspects of music education throughout his career, including serving as president of the Texas Music Administrators Conference. He has done presentations and staff development sessions for a number of conferences, universities, and school districts across Texas and the nation, including the Texas Music Educators Association convention, the National Association for Music Education National Conference, the National School Board Association National Conference, and the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic. In 2014, Mr. Ghinelli was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus in Music Education from the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, and in 2019 he was honored with the Lifetime Administrator Achievement Award from the Texas Bandmasters Association. Most recently he received the 2022 Keynote Award from the Foundation For Music Education.

Currently he serves as the Regional Director- West, for CutTime.