Mary Alice Rich received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in violin performance at the University of Illinois. For 10 years she played in professional orchestras and opera companies in Dallas, Ft. Worth, Tulsa, and the Des Moines Metro Opera. During that time, she also taught at Texas A and M University-Commerce.

When she was diagnosed with focal dystonia, she was devastated to have her performing days cut short. Out of frustration, she began to compose music. That was 32 years ago, and she has been composing ever since.

Mary Alice studied composition privately with Profs. Jack Waldenmaier, Ted Hansen, and Winston Stone while making her living teaching violin and raising her small daughter.

Soon she began to win composition contests, followed by commissions, and publication by several established music companies. In 2015, she collaborated with novelist Rosalyn Story on an opera WADING HOME for which Ms. Story won a $40,000 Sphinx MPower Grant. WADING HOME has received 7 performances in Dallas, New Orleans, and South Africa.

In 2022, she and librettist Claudia Navarro Jameson received a Helen Haupt grant from Mu Phi Epsilon to produce their opera designed for school children LA BRUJA ANAM Y LA BELLA BEATRICE.

It has received 6 performances including a featured performance at the International Mu Phi Epsilon Convention in 2023 where it was given an award for Special Service to the Community.