Eric Richards is the Assistant Professor of Composition and Jazz Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Music, situated in the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts. Prior to joining the faculty at UNL, Dr. Richards served as Music Department Coordinator, Director of Instrumental Music, and Assistant Professor of Music Theory/Technology at Midland Lutheran College in Fremont, Nebraska. For two decades, Eric served as Composer/Arranger with the United States Army Field Band based near Washington DC. Eric holds a Doctor of Musical Arts (Composition) degree from the University of Maryland at College Park where he studied with Mark Wilson and Robert Gibson. He received both a Master of Music (Composition) and a Bachelor of Science (Music Education) degree from Duquesne University where he studied with John Wilson and Joseph Wilcox Jenkins.
A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Dr. Richards is a composer/arranger, conductor, trombonist, and educator active in a wide range of musical media and styles. He has written compositions, arrangements, and orchestrations for groups ranging from renowned wind ensembles, big bands, and symphony orchestras to various chamber media to rural high school marching bands. His 1st String Quartet was hailed by the Washington Post as “…a work of propulsive genius.” In March 2006, he was chosen from a select group of composers to present an original work for jazz orchestra at the 1st International Jazz Composition Symposium at the University of South Florida. Eric’s music is imbued with a love of American art music, jazz, and vernacular styles while also strongly influenced by the musical languages of Brazil, Cuba, and Africa.
A regularly commissioned composer and arranger, Eric’s works have been performed and recorded worldwide by professional and academic ensembles in major concert venues. Ensembles include the following: US Army Field Band and Jazz Ambassadors, USAF Band and Airmen Of Note, US Marine Band (The President’s Own), National Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, Dallas Wind Symphony, University of North Texas Wind Ensemble, Millikin University Wind Ensemble, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Jazz Ensemble I, University of Northern Colorado Jazz Lab Band I, UNC Greeley Jazz Festival All Star Big Band, Lincoln Southeast Jazz Ensemble I (Lincoln, Neb.), Pennsylvania IAJE High School All-State Jazz Ensemble, Hall High School Concert Jazz Band (West Hartford, Conn.), Government Of Thailand, and the Sunrise String Quartet. Artists such as Toots Thielemans, Joe Lovano, John Fedchock, and Teri Lyne Carrington have performed his music in concert. Performance venues have included Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, Berlin Philharmonie and the Montreux, North Sea, Vienne, Nice and Monterey Jazz Festivals.
As a trombonist, Eric has performed with the numerous ensembles to include the US Army Jazz Ambassadors, US Army Field Band, Washington DC-based Klezmer band Lox & Vodka, Omaha Jazz Orchestra, Nebraska Jazz Orchestra and numerous church, chamber music and commercial groups. He has shared the stage with jazz artists such as Bob Brookmeyer, Urbie Green, John La Barbera, Dave Liebman, Jim Pugh, Phil Woods, and entertainers such as Ben Vereen, Jack Jones and The Fifth Dimension.
Dr. Richards’ music is published by the C.L. Barnhouse Company, Belwin Jazz Publications (Alfred Publishing), FJH Music Company, University of Northern Colorado’s UNC Jazz Press and Eric Richards Musical Services. He resides in Saunders County, Nebraska with his wife Lanelle and sons Gabriel, Logan, Christian and Josiah.
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