ABOUT

Richard and Evelyn Gard founded the Performing Arts Collaborative (PAC) in 2004 to serve the performing arts community through creative collaborations, event management, and by providing exceptional talent and production services.

Our dedicated team of experienced professionals is committed to transforming your vision into reality, offering comprehensive services from concept development to the final performance.

Whether a complete production is planned, or specific services like casting, rehearsing, or marketing, we are here to ensure your event is a resounding success.

Where possible, we integrate emerging talent alongside seasoned performers to create a vibrant and engaging final product.

Richard Gard

Although retired in 2021 from his faculty position at the Yale School of Music and Director of Music at Saint Thomas More Chapel at Yale, Richard remains a lifelong musician and educator at heart. He enjoys accompanying and performing with ensembles more than solo work, and loves to create the “soundtrack” to whatever event or activity he plays for or conducts.

Richard worked in commercial and pop music, performing with big and not so big bands and soloists in Los Angeles clubs and civic orchestras; in Connecticut he connected with the large arena and equity theaters as a contractor and conductor, and founded the Performing Arts Collaborative LLC to facilitate this work. His groups have performed in theaters and arenas with 500 to 25,000 audience, including a sold-out choral concert on the main stage of Carnegie Hall with orchestra and 400 choristers from the US, Britain, and Finland in 2016.

In 2012 Richard joined the The Way of H Inc., to consult on the development of his ideas into online music teaching systems: Rock Prodigy, Choir Prodigy, Music Prodigy, All-state Choir Prep, and SongBird. Users have since practiced more than 1 million hours learning to sight sing in his apps, and guitarists played more than 1 million hours.

In 2016 Richard designed and published the online Cloud Hymnal, a free library for non-profit use which also hosted subscription music from sacred music publishers. As of June 2023, there were been more than 500,000 free downloads of shared music.

Richard interest in music technology goes back to its inception. In1976, he built a Moog III synthesizer with Dr. Hank Keating in Los Angeles. Recordings were made on 1” Tascan tape machines, Tascam and Neve boards, Maestro Echo-plex, magnetic tape loops on mic stands. Richard performed and recorded with the first products by Echoplex, Moog, ARP, Sequential, Buchla, Alesis, Electro-harmonix, Oberheim, Synclavier, Emu, Kurzweil, String Ensemble, Yamaha DX, and Mellotron.

Richard was an editor and arranger for three choral music publishers, and his SATB arrangement of Debussy’s “Beau Soir” was in print for 29 years, and his 22 English settings of Norwegian and Swedish hymns is popular in Augsburg collections and hymnals.

Before joining the faculty at Yale University School of Music, Richard served on the faculty of Naugatuck Valley Community College, Connecticut, Gateway Community College, Connecticut, Cypress College, California, and Newbridge High School, California.

From age 5, Richard devoted much of his talent to liturgical music, and served as music director at multiple churches throughout his career, culminating in his 22 years at Saint Thomas More Chapel at Yale, of which he is most proud.

Evelyn Gard

Evelyn's (Evie) career in entertainment is a lifelong journey that has afforded her the opportunity to perform, direct and produce entertainment for most of her adult life.

Evie considers herself fortunate to have worked in some of the region's most renowned venues, including Carnegie Hall, Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, and the Oakdale Theater, while also touring internationally with various ensembles. One of her most cherished moments was a concert at Winchester Cathedral, where her favorite author, Jane Austen, rests.

Her extensive production credits and collaborations with national and local media have made a significant impact. Evie is a passionate advocate for community engagement, having leveraged her experience with esteemed organizations like Yale University, the MacNeil/Lehrer’s By the People project, and PBS. She has successfully produced events that foster open dialogue on civic matters through partnerships with the Festival of Arts and Ideas and Connecticut Public Broadcasting. Her contributions were not unnoticed, earning her accolades from Business New Haven and Connecticut Business Times, along with the prestigious PRSA’s Practitioner of the Year Award and New Haven Biz’s Inaugural Women Who Mean Business Award in 2018.

For more than 20 years, Evie was a teacher by day and performer/producer after hours. She has the distinction of having taught every grade from first to twelfth, and undergraduate college classes in Education and Psychology.

In 2001, Evie moved to the East Coast to take a position at Connecticut State Community College. She retired after an impressive 21 years. As the Associate Dean of Communications and Marketing, she served as a regional spokesperson and led a dynamic team of communications and design specialists. Even in retirement, Evie remains dedicated to her community. She served on multiple local boards during her tenure at CT State, and remains on the Board of Directors for the Elm Shakespeare Company.

Evie was commissioned in 2023 to bring Jane Austen's cherished novel, Pride and Prejudice, to life at the historic Osborne Homestead Museum in Derby, Connecticut. The success of Pride and Prejudice: Meanwhile at Longbourn inspired many guests, who were unfamiliar with Austen, to explore her works. This led to the founding of "A Novel Experience," a unique initiative that reintroduces the classics and inspires reading by encouraging people to get "out of your seat and into the story."

Evie maintains that her bio is ongoing, as she yet anticipates many new accomplishments and adventures.