 He has also been associated with the vocal ensemble, Chanticleer, as well as holding a professorship at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.Russell composed "Middle Earth", a suite after J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings", for the San Luis Obispo Youth Symphony.Commissioned in 1995, a recording was released on disk in 2000 by the San Luis Obispo Symphony, together with his "Rhapsody for Horn and Orchestra", and the second movement of his Symphony No.