A Texas native, Richard Hawkins has been the Associate Professor of Clarinet at the prestigious Oberlin Conservatory since 2001. He was for over a decade on the performance faculty at the Interlochen Arts Academy and has taught at USC, DePaul and Indiana Universities. His students hold chairs in such orchestras as the MET Opera, Boston, Detroit, Fort Worth, Pacific Symphony, LA Opera and Osaka Orchestras.

In 1992, he made his solo debut in the Kennedy Center with Mstislav Rostropovich and the National Symphony Orchestra, performing Aaron Copland's Clarinet Concerto. He has since appeared as soloist in over 45 concerto performances with such orchestras as the Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra, the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra, Colombia Philharmonic in Bogota, Bellevue Symphony in Washington, Corpus Christi Symphony and Hot Springs Music Festival Orchestra. Mr. Hawkins served five seasons with the Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra and remains an active contemporary, chamber and orchestral musician performing regularly with the Cleveland Orchestra. Since 1997, Mr. Hawkins has been an artist representative and clinician with the G. LeBlanc Corporation performing on clarinets he assisted in design, the LeBlanc Opus II.