Ronald Beckett is a composer who has had numerous compositions performed by ensembles throughout Ontario. His third full-length opera, I Am... was premiered on May 30, 1998 by Arcady and a second performance was given in March 1999 by Queens' Student Opera at Queens' University in Kingston, Ontario. I Am... was the completion of a trilogy which began with Ruth (1996), and continued with John (1997). His catalogue of compositions includes more than a dozen additional large-scale works for orchestra and chorus and an abundance of chamber music and pieces for organ. Premieres have been given by Orchestra London, The Essex Winds, Crowning Brass, and the University of Western Ontario Symphony Orchestra.

Ron led Arcady in two CD recordings on the Crescendo label: A Baroque Messiah (1999) and Welcome Yule! (2001). The latter is a collection of his original Christmas compositions and arrangements. He also arranged and conducted the music for Ruby Productions’ CD entitled Peace on Earth (2000). In 2002, Phoenix Records released the CD A Beckett Miscellany a sampling of Beckett’s instrumental music performed by The Essex Winds and Arcady. His works are heard regularly on CBC radio and were featured on TVOntarios' On Stage in Studio 2 in 2003.

A Summa Cum Laude graduate of McMaster University in History and Theory, Ron is an Associate of The Royal Conservatory of Music, Piano Performance. He also holds a Master of Music degree in composition from the University of Western Ontario. He has studied composition with William Wallace, Hugh Hartwell and Peter Koprowski and choral conducting with Richard Carroll. Beckett was a 2004 inductee into the McMaster Alumni Gallery.

A former Ontario Graduate Scholar, a Greening Prize and Ivey Scholarship winner, Ronald has been active as a guest conductor and teacher of piano, voice, theory, and harmony. He is a former vocal adjudicator and member of the Board of Examiners for the Western Ontario Conservatory of Music. He has served as a sessional instructor at University of Guelph as director of the schools' choral ensembles. Many of his former students now appear as professional performers, teachers, and conductors.

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