First (Scots) Presbyterian Church

Ricard Bordas

Director of Choral Music

Born in Barcelona, Spain, conductor/countertenor Ricard Bordas graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London, receiving his DipRAM degree from Diana, Princess of Wales, and winning several competitions and awards.

Since the age of seventeen, Ricard has conducted choirs and chamber early music groups in Spain, the US and Britain. Since arriving in the USA, he has conducted many oratorio works with the First (Scots) Kirk Choir including Bach’s St. John Passion, Magnificat, and Gloria for the Bach Festival of Charleston, as well as Handel's Messiah, Vivaldi's Gloria, Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit.

As a countertenor soloist, Ricard has performed in both opera and concert with notable conductors and has performed in several well-known venues around the world. He has performed in numerous international music festivals and has recorded for several labels including CPO whose recording of Psyché by Lully earned a Grammy Award nomination in 2009.

Ricard is currently Assistant Professor of Music at Charleston Southern University, Artistic Director of the Bach Society of Charleston, Artistic Director of the Charleston Men’s Chorus, and writes for the Spanish classical magazine Revista Musical Catalana from Barcelona. He has adjudicated the David Adams Art Song competition in New York, and has offered master classes at the Royal Academy of Music and the Trinity College of Music in London, the International Baroque Institute in Cambridge, MA, and the Barcelona Conservatory.

He is married to soprano Margaret Cook and has a son named Mateu.