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The American harpsichordist, James Richman, is first musician since Leonard Bernstein to graduate Harvard, Juilliard, and the Curtis Institute of Music. He studied conducting with Max Rudolf and Herbert Blomstedt, piano with Rosina Lhevinne and Mieczyslaw Horszowski, and harpsichord with Albert Fuller and Kenneth Gilbert, and also holds a degree in the History of Science magna cum laude from Harvard College. He was a prize-winner in four international competitions for early keyboard instruments, including 1st prize in the Bodky Competition of the Cambridge Society of Early Music, laureate of the Bruges Harpsichord Competition and bronze medal in the Paris Harpsichord Competition of the Festival Estival and in the First International Fortepiano Competition (Paris).
James Richman is a prominent harpsichordist and fortepianist and one of today’s leading conductors of Baroque music and opera. Beginning with his days at the Juilliard School with Albert Fuller, James Richman has been an innovator and explorer in the field of Baroque and Classic Music on original instruments, especially in Baroque opera and opera-ballet. In series at Lincoln Center, the French Institute/Alliance Française (Soirées Baroques), Merkin Hall, and Princeton University, his Concert Royal ensemble brought “new” and exciting music from the 17th and 18th century to life with the finest instrumental and vocal soloists in the field. The ensemble played for every performance of George Frideric Handel's Messiah and the J.S. Bach's Passions at Saint Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue for decades, including recordings of the W.A. Mozart rewrite of Messiah and Anthems and Carols with the Saint Thomas Choir of Men & Boys.
In 2020, James Richman celebrated i25 years since his invitation to be Artistic Director of the Dallas Bach Society in 1995. As Music Director of the New York Baroque Dance Company (Director: Catherine Turocy) he has taken a major role in the production of numerous operas of Rameau, G.F. Handel, Purcell, Monteverdi, Gluck, Rousseau, and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach., in addition to numerous performances with the Dallas Bach Society. Other performances include conducting The Hanover Band at the Pollença Festival (Majorca) and five summers conducting Baroque and Classic opera at the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival. He is also Harpsichordist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.
A recipient of the prestigious United States-France Exchange Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, James Richman was made a Chevalier in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 1995, in recognition of his contributions to the field of music. |
