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# Sid Richardson

Composer

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://sidrichardson.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [News](https://sidrichardson.com/news/) - News and updates from composer Sid Richardson: premieres, new commissions, recordings, residencies, and upcoming performances of his music.
- [Collective Voices in Sarasota](https://sidrichardson.com/collective-voices-sarasota/) - Sophia Szokolay is taking her Collective Voices program on the road! I’m delighted that my piece Stromateis was performed today by Sophia and Baron Fenwick in the Geldbart Auditorium at the Selby Library in Sarasota. It was part of their Soundbox Fellowship Program, which regularly features resident artists and composer fellows. In this case, Sophia,
- [Collective Voices in Cape Cod](https://sidrichardson.com/collective-voices-szokolay/) - I'm grateful to Sophia Szokolay for bringing her Collective Voices program to Cape Cod this weekend, including my piece Stromateis for violin and piano. She played all the pieces from last November's concert, and the proceeds from ticket sales directly support the recording of the Collective Voices program for her debut album. The performance took
- [Tarot Teller California Premiere and l'averse Premiere at NEC](https://sidrichardson.com/tarot-teller-tempo-ensemble-laverse-premiere/) - This has been a busy month for performances, and I was overjoyed to have several of my own works programmed this October. On the second of the month, the TEMPO Ensemble at California State University, Northridge, performed my Pierrot piece Tarot Teller, which was inspired by Nathaniel Mackey's poem from Eroding Witness. A video of
- [NEC Fall 2025 Curation](https://sidrichardson.com/nec-composers-series/) - It's been a busy fall at NEC, where I curated our first two Composers' Series concerts on October 15 and November 6. The first focused on art songs and song cycles, and I was thrilled to hear the concert premiere of my song "How Do I Love Thee?" for soprano and piano performed by Aurora
- [Sid Richardson Wins 2018 Hermitage Prize in Composition at Aspen Music Festival & School](https://sidrichardson.com/richardson-hermitage-prize-aspen/) - I'm honored to have been awarded the Hermitage Prize from the Aspen Music Festival and School. I'll be heading to The Hermitage Artist Retreat in Sarasota for a 6-week residency sometime this coming year and I couldn't be more excited for it. What's more, this morning Joshua Hong led the Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra in
- [Residency at Crosstown Arts in Memphis](https://sidrichardson.com/crosstown-arts-residency/) - I'm thrilled to be in Memphis this fall doing a residency at Crosstown Arts. It's exciting to be in the thick of it with other musicians, artists, filmmakers, and poets. Today I had the pleasure of presenting my music at the University of Memphis, where I met professors Kamran Ince and John Baur along with
- [Sound Design for Bad Roads Production at Duke](https://sidrichardson.com/bad-roads-duke/) - I’m looking forward to the premiere tonight of Bad Roads, my second play at Duke in 2019 as sound designer. It’s been a pleasure working with director Jody McAuliffe and a fantastic crew on making this production come to life. Bad Roads is a new play by documentary playwright Natal’ya Vorozhbit, the leading Ukrainian playwright
- [Residency at the Hermitage Artist Retreat 2019](https://sidrichardson.com/hermitage-artist-retreat-2019/) - I've enjoyed a productive and stimulating residency at the Hermitage Artist Retreat in Florida these past few weeks. It's been a delight to get to know the work of my fellow residents and to swim in the ocean every day. I'm already looking forward to returning for another residency here in early 2020.
- [Red Wind Premiered at Tanglewood](https://sidrichardson.com/red-wind-tanglewood/) - I'm still elated from the fantastic premiere of my dissertation piece Red Wind, which took place on July 21st in Ozawa Hall at the Tanglewood Music Center. Thank you so much to the players who made it come to life in a riveting performance: Olivia Cosio, Ben Quarles, Federico Montes, David Kidd, Greg LaRosa, Gabe
- [Door to the River Performed by the Buffalo Philharmonic at EarShot 2020](https://sidrichardson.com/earshot-buffalo-philharmonic-door-to-the-river/) - I had a fantastic experience in Buffalo at the American Composers Orchestra EarShot New Music Readings with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. They gave a thrilling performance of my piece Door to the River. A big thank you to all the players and staff of the BPO, ACO, Maestro Thachuk, and of course our composer mentors
- [Borne by a Wind Album Announcement](https://sidrichardson.com/borne-by-a-wind-announcement/) - I’m excited to announce my debut album, Borne by a Wind, set to be released February 12th on New Focus Recordings. It opens with Red Wind (2017), a collaboration with experimentalist poet and National Book Award-winner Nathaniel Mackey that features Mackey as narrator in excerpts from his poetry collection Blue Fasa alongside the Deviant Septet
- [Sound Design for Euripides' Medea Production at Duke](https://sidrichardson.com/medea-duke/) - It was quite a trip doing the sound design for the Duke University Department of Theater Studies’ production of Euripides’ Medea completely remotely this spring. I'm proud to have been a part of this production team, which navigated many pitfalls and hurdles to livestream three performances this weekend.
- [Next Time Will Be Different Recording Session at NEC](https://sidrichardson.com/next-time-recording/) - I had a fantastic recording session with violinist Lilit Hartunian and recording engineer/producer Jeffrey Means this weekend in New England Conservatory's Burnes Hall. We recorded my piece for scordatura violin Next Time Will Be Different that I wrote for Lilit during the first months of the pandemic. It responds to another violin solo by Kenji
- [Rock Garden Premiered at Tanglewood](https://sidrichardson.com/rock-garden-tanglewood/) - I am beyond excited to be back at Tanglewood today for the premiere of my new piece for double wind quintet, Rock Garden, commissioned by the Tanglewood Music Center! It’s being played on a prelude concert on Saturday night at 6pm in Studio E in the Linde Center alongside some amazing pieces by Gabriela Ortiz,
- [Residency at VCCA Moulin à Nef in Auvillar, France](https://sidrichardson.com/vcca-auvillar-magnificat/) - In July and August I was in Auvillar, France, participating in a wonderful artist residency at the Virginia Center of the Creative Arts’ Moulin à Nef campus. During the residency I sketched a new motet, a Magnificat, commissioned by Emmanuel Music that will be sung on the third Sunday in Advent, December 11, at Emmanuel
- [LUNE Performed in the Cube at Virginia Tech by Sarah Plum](https://sidrichardson.com/lune-cube-sarah-plum/) - Tonight in the Cube at Virginia Tech Sarah Plum is playing my piece LUNE for violin and electronics as part of their Music and Technology Festival. She’s also playing some other amazing pieces by Eric Lyon, Kyong Mee Choi, Randall West, Charles Nichols, Joo Won Park, and Mari Takano. It's been a joy revisiting this
- [The Callithumpian Consort Premieres We the Way Outward](https://sidrichardson.com/we-the-way-outward-premiere-callithumpiano-consosrt/) - I am beyond thrilled with the premiere of my newest work, We the Way Outward, by the Callithumpian Consort last night at NEC's Jordan Hall. This piece for flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello, drum set, and piano was commissioned by Boston Musica Viva as part of their Write It Now Commissioning Initiative in 2021 and
- [Lamnth Duo Premieres which was the dream, which was the veil? at NEC](https://sidrichardson.com/lamnth-which-premiere/) - I am extremely excited about the premiere tonight of my newly commissioned piece for the violin and cimbalom duo Lamnth, which was the dream, which was the veil? Working with Lilit Hartunian and Nick Tolle on this piece has been incredibly rewarding, and I look forward to the recording session we have scheduled this weekend.
- [Pascal Dusapin Article Out Now in Perspectives of New Music](https://sidrichardson.com/pascal-dusapin-article-perspectives/) - My article, "Form and Exhaustion in Pascal Dusapin's Quad - In Memoriam Gilles Deleuze," has been published in the latest volume of Perspectives of New Music! This project has been years in the making, and couldn’t have been possible without M. Dusapin graciously granting me an interview in his studio in Paris back in 2016.
- [Eidolon Chamber Opera Workshop at Longy](https://sidrichardson.com/eidolon-workshop-longy/) - I'm very excited to be presenting the first two scenes of my chamber opera-in-progress, Eidolon, based on H.D.’s epic poem Helen in Egypt, today at the Longy School of Music's Pickman Hall. This is the culmination of the last few years that I have spent as an artist-in-residence at Longy, and it promises to be
- [Shine Darkly Over Me Premiere at Bowdoin International Music Festival](https://sidrichardson.com/shine-darkly-premiere-bowdoin/) - I am thrilled to be at the Bowdoin International Music Festival this weekend as a guest artist for the world premiere of my trio for flute, viola, and harp, Shine Darkly Over Me. It’s a joy to be back here after participating in the festival back in 2017, and to be programmed on the Gamper
- [Sun Compass Premiere](https://sidrichardson.com/sun-compass-premiere/) - I am so looking forward to the premiere of my new piece for wind ensemble and rhythm section, Sun Compass, commissioned by Bill Drury and the NEC Wind Ensemble, tonight in Jordan Hall at 7:30pm. It is an absolute honor to have Frank Carlberg, Dor Herskovits, and Bob Nieske playing the solo parts, and the
- [Ratyll Performance in Prague by Transient Canvas](https://sidrichardson.com/ratyll-prague-transient-canvas/) - What a wonderful surprise it was to learn that Transient Canvas are playing my piece Ratyll tonight in Prague, especially since I was only a three-hour train ride away in Bavaria. Long story short, I’ve had a wonderful, if brief, stay in beautiful Prague. Last night I took in Don Giovanni at the Estates Theatre,
- [Sid Richardson Wins Utah Arts Festival Chamber Commission Competition](https://sidrichardson.com/sid-richardson-utah-arts-festival-commission-competition/) - I'm delighted to have won the 2019 Utah Arts Festival Chamber Commission competition. The prize is a new piece for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion to be premiered by Sinfonia Salt Lake at the Festival in June. I'm looking forward to heading out to Utah for the first time to work with these
- [Comb Premiered by Del Sol Quartet in San Francisco at GLFCAM](https://sidrichardson.com/comb-del-sol-quartet-gabriela-lena-frank-creative-academy-of-music/) - My time this year at the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music has been extremely fulfilling and productive. Tonight the Del Sol Quartet premieres my new string quartet Comb in San Francisco alongside new works by fellow Cycle 5 composers Aaron Garcia, Anjna Swaminathan, Antonio Celaya, Jonah Gallagher, and Erika Oba. I'm so thankful
- [Gramarye Premiered at the Utah Arts Festival](https://sidrichardson.com/gramarye-utah-arts-festival-premiere/) - Thrilled to be in Salt Lake City for the Utah Arts Festival and the premiere of Gramarye, which was commissioned for this year’s event. It’s been a pleasure working with Sinfonia Salt Lake and and conductor Rob Baldwin on this new work. We had a productive recording session today at the University of Utah, and
- [Residency at The Hermitage Artist Retreat, 2020](https://sidrichardson.com/hermitage-artist-retreat-2020/) - I’m happy to be spending the first four weeks of 2020 back at the Hermitage Artist Retreat doing a residency. It's quite a shock to go from full-blown winter in Boston to what feels like summer here in Florida. I'm excited to get to work on a bunch of projects for the coming year, including
- [Presentation at University of Florida, Gainesville](https://sidrichardson.com/uf-presentation/) - I'm thrilled to be presenting on my piece Red Wind today to the composers in the School of Music at the University of Florida, Gainesville. It's a pleasure to share my work with them, and to see my good friend Scott Lee in his new role as Assistant Professor of Composition here at UF.
- [Sid Richardson Appointed Composition Faculty at New England Conservatory](https://sidrichardson.com/sid-richardson-nec-faculty-appointment/) - I am overjoyed to be joining the composition faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music. Today was convocation and the first day of online classes. It was a pleasure meeting my students virtually; it promises to be an exciting new chapter for me here in Boston.
- [Sid Participates in Inaugral Tidriks Distance Learning Session at GLFCAM](https://sidrichardson.com/gabriela-lena-frank-creative-academy-music-tidriks-distance-learning/) - I was so thrilled to participate in the inaugural Tidriks Distance Learning session today, a Percussion Practicum for Composers with percussionist Chris Froh put together by the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music. I wrote a short percussion sketch for Chris, who enlightened us on a whole range of topics related to it, from
- [Debut Album Borne by a Winde Out Now on New Focus Recordings](https://sidrichardson.com/borne-by-a-wind-debut-new-focus-recordings/) - My debut album Borne by a Wind featuring Nathaniel Mackey, Mellissa Hughes, Deviant Septet, Conrad Tao, Lilit Hartunian, and the Da Capo Chamber Players is out today on New Focus Recordings! Available on streaming platforms and everywhere CDs are sold. For more information, visit the album's page at New Focus Recordings. Also out today, the
- [Take Effect Reviews Borne by a Wind](https://sidrichardson.com/take-effect-review-borne-by-a-wind/) - Take Effect hails Borne by a Wind as "another exciting chapter in [Richardson's] body of work that displays a chamber, orchestral and classical vision that few, if anyone, could replicate." Read the full review here: Take Effect.
- [Classical-Modern Music Reviews Borne by a Wind](https://sidrichardson.com/edwards-classical-modern-music-review-borne-by-a-wind/) - Grego Applegate Edwards notes "Some composers create music as they might breathe. The music follows upon itself in a natural flow, like conversation idealized into a musical transform. That's the feeling I get listening to Sid Richardson on his recent Borne by a Wind." Read the full review here: Classical-Modern Music.
- [Textura Reviews Borne by a Wind](https://sidrichardson.com/textura-review-borne-by-a-wind/) - Textura calls Borne by a Wind "Never less than stimulating... starry-eyed and mystical." Read the full review here: Textura.
- [The Wire Reviews Borne by a Wind](https://sidrichardson.com/wire-review-borne-by-a-wind/) - The Wire says of Borne by a Wind : "These contrasting, yet contemporary, modes of delivering Mackey's words are set within tactfully spaced and stylistically flexible music." Read the full review here: The Wire.
- [BBC Music Magazine Reviews Borne by a Wind](https://sidrichardson.com/bbc-music-magazine-borne-by-a-wind/) - I'm grateful to BBC Music Magazine for a short but sweet review of Borne by a Wind: "A thought-provoking selection of recent works by this Boston-based composer. Red Wind is the dramatic centerpiece, fusing poetry with an unusual and evocative musical soundscape."
- [Presentation at CFU](https://sidrichardson.com/cfu/) - It was a great pleasure to give a virtual talk at the University of Central Florida today. It was an honor to share my music with the undergraduate composers there, and a joy to see my old friend Professor Alex Burtzos.
- [Inscribed on a Lintel Premiere at Wellesley College and Ratyll Premiere at Tufts by Transient Canvas](https://sidrichardson.com/inscribed-ratyll-premiere-transient-canvas/) - It feels like an age since I’ve had an in-person premiere, and now all of a sudden, I have two coming up back-to-back. On Sunday March 13 at 2pm at Wellesley College Deborah Selig and David Collins are premiering my new song for soprano and piano “Inscribed on a Lintel,” which sets a beautiful poem
- [Ratyll Performance at The Boston Conservatory by Transient Canvas](https://sidrichardson.com/ratyll-boco-transient-canvas/) - Transient Canvas performs my piece Ratyll for bass clarinet and marimba tonight at 7:30pm at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, 132 Ipswich St. The program features a plethora of new music for this group, including works by Yaz Lancaster, Yi-Ting Lu, Brittany J Green, Mikhail Johnson, Teerath Majumder, Caroline Louise Miller, Matthew Evan Taylor, Jennifer
- [Sid Appointed Artist-In-Residence at Longy School 2022-24](https://sidrichardson.com/longy-artist-in-residency/) - I am thrilled to be an inaugural artist-in-residence at the Longy School of Music at Bard College. I am developing a new work there over the next two years based on H.D.’s epic poem Helen in Egypt with the mentorship of composer Amy Beth Kirsten. It’s been a thrill to get to know the amazing faculty
- [Magnificat Premiered by Emmanuel Music](https://sidrichardson.com/magnificat-premiere-emmanuel-music/) - Today was a very special day for me. Emmanuel Music premiered my newly commissioned motet, Magnificat, during the service for the third Sunday in Advent at Emmanuel Church in Boston. As a long time member of the congregation and former sexton at Emmanuel, it was a dream come trueThis setting of the Magnificat seeks to
- [Tide Tiding Time Movement One Premiered by Sophia Szokolay](https://sidrichardson.com/ttt-shells-and-stones-premiere-szokolay/) - I am excited for the first NEC Composers’ Series concert of 2023 in Jordan Hall tonight at 7:30pm. Sophia Szokolay is performing the first movement of my massive violin solo, Tide Tiding Time, and she sounds phenomenal! I’m so grateful to her for learning this really challenging piece. The concert features some other really exciting
- [Tide Tiding Time Second Movement Premiered by Sophia Szokolay](https://sidrichardson.com/ttt-flotsam-jetsam-premiere-szokolay/) - I am greatly looking forward to Sophia Szokolay’s final DMA recital this Saturday at 8pm in Brown Hall at NEC. She is premiering the second movement from my solo violin piece Tide Tiding Time, “Flotsam/Jetsam,” alongside some wonderful works by Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol, Amy Beach, and Richard Strauss. There's even a György Kurtág world premiere!
- [Lamnth Performance at Tufts](https://sidrichardson.com/lamnth-sept-2024-tufts-performance/) - Tonight at Tufts University the incredible duo Lamnth, Lilit Hartunian and Nicholas Tolle, are giving the second performance of my H.D.-inspired piece for violin and cimbalom, which was the dream, which was the veil? The concert begins at 8pm in Distler Hall in the Granoff Music Center, and will also feature a new commission by
- [Performance of Shine Darkly Over Me](https://sidrichardson.com/shine-darkly-second-performance/) - I am thrilled that my trio for flute, viola, and harp, Shine Darkly Over Me, is having a second performance tomorrow night at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall. Emma Krause, Luther Warren, and Yvonne Cox sound incredible, and I'm grateful to them for all of their hard work on this piece. This is part of

## Pages

- [Home](https://sidrichardson.com/) - New England–based composer Sid Richardson: chamber, vocal, and orchestral music shaped by literature, mysticism, and the natural world.
- [About](https://sidrichardson.com/about/) - Composer Sid Richardson writes chamber and orchestral music shaped by literature, dream states, and mysticism. Faculty at New England Conservatory.
- [Contact](https://sidrichardson.com/contact/) - Get in touch with composer Sid Richardson about commissions, performance and score requests, and press inquiries.
- [Rental Inquiry](https://sidrichardson.com/rental-inquiry/)
- [Privacy Policy](https://sidrichardson.com/privacy-policy/) - Who we are Our website address is: http://sidrichardson.com. Comments When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided
- [Press Materials](https://sidrichardson.com/about/press-materials/)

## Music

- [Red Wind](https://sidrichardson.com/music/red-wind/) - Red Wind sets selected verses from Nathaniel Mackey’s Blue Fasa (2015), which continues his two serial poems Song of the Andoumboulou and “Mu.” His poetry braids these poems into several volumes, which exhibit themes of movement, migration, and transit. As Mackey points out in his introduction, Blue Fasa “announces an Eastern turn” to the poems.
- [Liber Contrapunctum](https://sidrichardson.com/music/liber-contrapunctum/) - Liber Contrapunctum is a collection of short contrapuntal pieces that seek to reinterpret harmonic material excerpted from Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier in new and interesting ways. Similar to its predecessor, the movements of the Liber Contrapunctum are laid out in pairs that complement each other. The first Praeludium is derived from the Fugue
- [l'averse](https://sidrichardson.com/music/laverse/) - l’averse, meaning the sudden shower or storm, takes its inspiration from a brief, but violent, hailstorm that I was caught in during midsummer of 2015 in Boston. A humid, sunny day transformed into a chaotic, gusty deluge of precipitation in a matter of seconds. Driving in my car in Brookline, I had to pull over
- [BEACON](https://sidrichardson.com/music/beacon/) - Commissioned by the Kenosha Community Foundation in celebration of several cultural pillars of the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin, BEACON is scored for wind quintet. Its pillars include the SculptureWalk in HarborPark, the Kenosha Symphony Orchestra, and fresh inc. summer music festival at UW-Parkside led by Fifth House Ensemble. While participating in the latter this past
- [Tendrils](https://sidrichardson.com/music/tendrils/) - Tendrils Program Note Tendrils takes the shape of a winding thread that is constantly spiraling outwards from its origin. Plant tendrils slowly twist and turn as they grope for support, which is similar to the way in which the instrumental voices push and pull each other as they struggle to find resolution. The choice of
- [l'air sans notes](https://sidrichardson.com/music/lair-sans-notes/) - l’air sans notes is based upon an excerpt taken from Louis-Ferdinand Céline’s novel Journey to the End of the Night: Personne ne lui résiste au fond à la musique. On n’a rien à faire avec son cœur, on le donne volontiers. Faut entendre au fond de toutes les musiques l’air sans notes, fait pour nous,
- [Bouquets](https://sidrichardson.com/music/bouquets/) - Bouquets is an experimental composition for asychronous parts, whcih draws inspiration from various flowers. Ideas explored include interchangeable movements, and choices of multiple possible lines for the instrumentalists to choose from.
- [Bifocals](https://sidrichardson.com/music/bifocals/) - “Multifocals” might be a more appropriate title for this string quartet, but I chose Bifocals because of the duality it suggests. The piece explores the nature of extremes in the ensemble and consists mainly of connective sections between climactic moments, or focal points, that present two opposites to the listener. For example, one of the
- [Ratyll](https://sidrichardson.com/music/ratyll/) - Ratyll takes its inspiration from rattling sounds and its title from an older, Middle-English spelling. I was intrigued by the various buzzy, clicky, and noisy sounds that a bass clarinet and marimba are capable of making, and also by the assorted meanings of the word “rattle.” It can of course refer to a shaker instrument,
- [Shine Darkly Over Me](https://sidrichardson.com/music/shine-darkly-over-me/) - This trio draws its title from William Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night, or What You Will. A famous work dealing with the intersections of love and power, Twelfth Night inspired the music herein primarily through its vivid prosody and evocative imagery. The three movements “With sighs of fire”, “Fly away, fly away, breath”,and “My stars shine
- [Gramarye](https://sidrichardson.com/music/gramarye/) - Gramarye for chamber ensemble explores the interstices between music and language. Grammar is regarded today as an ubiquitous study instilled in us from a young age in school. In the Middle Ages, however, knowledge of grammar was scarce enough to be considered a form of sorcery by the layman. Along with logic and rhetoric, grammar
- [Tarot Teller](https://sidrichardson.com/music/tarot-teller/) - The tarot, also known tarocchi or les tarots, is a deck of cards that dates back to the fifteenth century. Used to play a variety of games, the tarot in some ways resembles a standard fifty-two-card deck with four suits known as the Minor Arcana. The tarot is more widely known for its twenty-two-card trump
- [Comb](https://sidrichardson.com/music/comb/) - Comb was inspired by the jewelry of René Lalique, particularly his hair combs and diadems held in the collection at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon. Lalique had a remarkable life in which he excelled at two distinct careers: first, as an exclusive jewelry designer and later, as a designer of commercial glassware. Just before
- [Arrowhead](https://sidrichardson.com/music/arrowhead/) - Arrowhead is the historic home of author Herman Melville located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, not far from the grounds of Tanglewood. It was here that Melville completed many novels and poems, most famously Moby Dick. Arrowhead for violin and viola springs out of imagery taken from the titles of the chapters of Moby Dick, and from
- [Deeper and Deeper](https://sidrichardson.com/music/deeper-and-deeper/) - Deeper and Deeper plays upon the idea of receding light and consciousness. Timbral and gestural ideas slide in and out of focus, ultimately disappearing into the shadows. The piece is intended to reflect the experience of a pair of individuals entering a deep meditative state, in which awareness of the outside world gradually dissipates as
- [Défilé de Féeries](https://sidrichardson.com/music/defile-de-feeries/) - Défilé de Féeries, or Procession of Enchantments, is a collection of miniatures for string quartet based on fragments of poetry from Arthur Rimbaud's poems entitled Les Illuminations. The harmonic language of each movement is intricately tied to the poetry it illumines in the form of musical ciphers that translate the structure of the words into
- [LUNE](https://sidrichardson.com/music/lune/) - In writing LUNE, I was inspired by the nocturnal sound world of Lake Dunmore in Leicester, VT, where, on a summer evening, the air is filled with long, wailing loon calls that echo across the lake. The pitch content of these loon calls provides the harmonic fabric of the piece, in which the haunting calls
- [Rock Garden](https://sidrichardson.com/music/rock-garden/) - The primary inspiration for this work is the ancient Japanese art of dry landscape gardens, or karesansui. I find that the static energy implied by the relationship of stones to one another in these Zen gardens can be related to disparate musical objects. As the stones each possess a beauty of edges and lines, they
- [Dredged Archipelago](https://sidrichardson.com/music/dredged-archipelago/) - Dredged Archipelago was written during my residency at The Hermitage Artist Retreat in Englewood, Florida, where I spent my first days swimming in the Gulf and reading. While revisiting some of Nathaniel Mackey’s early poems, I stumbled upon some lines from the Song of the Andoumboulou that resonated with my own sense of wonder my
- [Bass Cathedral](https://sidrichardson.com/music/bass-cathedral/) - Bass Cathedral takes its title from an epistolary novel of the same name by Nathaniel Mackey, the fourth installment in his ongoing series From a Broken Bottle, Traces of Perfume Still Emanate. This open-ended work follows the progress of the protagonist N., a multi-instrumentalist and composer, and his fellow bandmates in the ensemble Molimo m’Atet.
- [Door to the River](https://sidrichardson.com/music/door-to-the-river/) - Door to the River is a painting by Willem de Kooning held by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City. Throughout his career de Kooning oscillated between abstract and figurative paintings, which drew on a variety of sources ranging from Cubism to commercial design. Door to the River dates from 1960, around the
- [There is no sleep so deep](https://sidrichardson.com/music/there-is-no-sleep-so-deep/) - There is no sleep so deeptakes its title from Samuel Beckett’s play Footfalls. The play consists primarily of an old woman obsessively pacing up and down the stage. M, the protagonist, stops occasionally to recount a monologue of her slow withdrawal from life, and of her anguished attempts at self-assertion. As the work progresses, she
- [Tide Tiding Time](https://sidrichardson.com/music/tide-tiding-time/) - Tide Tiding Time is a rumination on time and structure that was inspired by the Penobscot Bay in Maine. The tide there changes by about twelve feet between low and high tide, which makes for an ever-shifting seascape. The music of Tide Tiding Time is informed by activities that I engaged in on those shores
- [Next Time Will Be Different](https://sidrichardson.com/music/next-time-will-be-different/) - Next Time Will Be Different was conceived as a companion piece in response to a work for violin by Kenji Bunch, Until Next Time. Both pieces feature a unique scordatura tuning, in which the bottom two strings of the violin are tuned down a semitone and the upper two strings are tuned down a minor
- [Eidolon: A Chamber Opera Featuring the Poetry of H.D.](https://sidrichardson.com/music/eidolon-a-chamber-opera-featuring-the-poetry-of-h-d/) - Eidolon, for soprano, mezzo-soprano, actor (countertenor), and mixed chamber ensemble, sets to music poetry from Helen in Egypt (1961) by Hilda Doolittle (aka H.D.), a semi-dramatic lyric narrative that revisits and rewrites the myth of Helen of Troy. I am drawn to H.D.’s late poem because of its relation to themes that interest me in
- [How Do I Love Thee?](https://sidrichardson.com/music/how-do-i-love-thee/) - Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “How Do I Love Thee?” (Sonnet 43) is a standout poem in her collection Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850). My wife Elizabeth had given me a copy of this collection early on in our courtship, and I often returned to it during my marriage preparations as it represents for me an intriguing
- [Inscribed on a Lintel](https://sidrichardson.com/music/inscribed-on-a-lintel/) - This song was written for a musical memorial service in honor of long-time Music Department Coordinator at Wellesley College, Magdalen Christian. For inspiration I turned to a Wellesley poet, Dan Chiasson, whose evocative poem “Inscribed on a Lintel” from his collection Natural History (2000) beautifully summed up how Mag gave her absolute all for the
- [The Sea-Limits](https://sidrichardson.com/music/the-sea-limits/) - Gabriel Dante Rossetti’s lyric poem “The Sea-Limits” concludes the Songs section of a larger collection, The House of Life. Originally entitled “At Boulogne. Upon the Cliffs: Noon.,” it dates from 1849, when the poet traveled to France and Belgium. This remarkable, early poem takes as its subject the unity of being, a concept central to
- [Magnificat](https://sidrichardson.com/music/magnificat/) - This setting of the Magnificat seeks to tap into the great joy inherent in this canticle, the Song of Mary from the Gospel according to Luke, which is itself a recapitulation of the Song of Hannah from the 1 Samuel: 2:1-10. Written with the express intent to be paired with J. S. Bach’s cantata BWV
- [Stromateis](https://sidrichardson.com/music/stromateis/) - Stromateis can be translated variously from Greek as layers, miscellany, patchwork, or quilt. I embarked on this work for violinist Sophia Szokolay in response to a prompt she had provided for her forthcoming debut album, which included a description of a “quest for a sense of ‘home’ in the midst of dissonance.” Sophia invited the
- [Study for Remembrance](https://sidrichardson.com/music/study-for-remembrance/) - Study for Remembrance was written for cellist Mickey Katz of the Boston Symphony Orchestra during the COVID-19 lockdown. Mickey asked a handful of composers to write short pieces that would be able to be shared easily on social media once he had learned and recorded them. The piece was later premiered on a program at
- [On the Sea](https://sidrichardson.com/music/on-the-sea/) - The evocative, Romantic imagery of Keats’ sonnet “On the Sea” informs the sound world and structure of this setting for five male voices. The work takes the shape of an isorhythmic motet with a tenor that is proportionally compressed as the piece develops. Several devices derivative of fifteenth-century Franco-Flemish practice, such as gematriaand solmization, are
- [We the Way Outward](https://sidrichardson.com/music/we-the-way-outward/) - We the Way Outward springs from my continued interest in the work of experimentalist poet Nathaniel Mackey, whose poetry and literary criticism engage African American history and culture in a way that emphasizes a cross-cultural approach to art and life. The release of his newest collection of poetry, a three-volume set entitled Double Trio, led
- [Psalm 8](https://sidrichardson.com/music/psalm-8/) - I wrote this early choral piece as a meditation on one of my favorite Psalms as well as an exploration of different vocal colorings. Strongly influenced by Copland and Josquin, I tried to find combinations of certain voices and registers that would bring out the meaning of the text. I chose to use the King
- [Picture-Writing](https://sidrichardson.com/music/picture-writing/) - Picture-Writing is the title of the fourteenth chapter of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem The Song of Hiawatha, published in 1855, which depicts the deeds of the fictitious Native-American hero Hiawatha. In Picture-Writing, Hiawatha laments that his peoples’ great traditions and achievements are forgotten over time, so he creates his own pictographic language so they
- [Webbed](https://sidrichardson.com/music/webbed/) - The ideas behind Webbed came from a variety of different sources. When Charlotte Munn-Wood asked me to write her a violin solo, I immediately gravitated towards the children’s story Charlotte’s Web, by E. B. White. White wrote the book in Brooklin, Maine, not far from where I spend my summers in Sedgwick, so I have
- [Stacked](https://sidrichardson.com/music/stacked/) - Stacked is born in the wind in a very literal sense: its virtuosic nature requires an extreme exertion from the oboist who must keep up an incessant barrage of notes and phrases throughout. Wind imagery abounds as the work juxtaposes various timbres and textures to create a propulsive color wheel. The title is drawn from
- [J. S. Bach Double Concerto in D Minor BWV 1043](https://sidrichardson.com/music/j-s-bach-double-concerto-in-d-minor-bwv-1043/)
- [Terraforming](https://sidrichardson.com/music/terraforming/) - Terraforming is the concept of modifying a planet or moon’s atmosphere, topography, and temperature in order to create a biosphere similar to that of Earth and thus make it habitable by humans. The idea is rooted more in science fiction than actual science, and was first coined by the sci-fi author Jack Williamson in his
- [Red Wind (Desert Remix)](https://sidrichardson.com/music/red-wind-desert-remix/) - Red Wind (Desert Remix), is a reimagining of Red Wind in a generative media environment realized in the software program MAX. Selected excerpts of Red Wind are fragmented and reorganized by the algorithm in real time, out of which emerges upon each listening a new variation of the piece. The score is, in effect, a
- [Ventriloquy](https://sidrichardson.com/music/ventriloquy/)
- [Liminal Mantra](https://sidrichardson.com/music/liminal-mantra/) - Co-created with Roseminna Watson as part of her Pandemic Polyphony project. Describing the project, she writes: This project formed as a mechanism for survival of the spirit — for regularly practicing artists and closeted artists, for friends, family members, neighbors and strangers, for banished audiences, essential workers, patients and their loved ones; for anyone facing
- [The Barberisms of Seville](https://sidrichardson.com/music/the-barberisms-of-seville/)
- [which was the dream, which was the veil?](https://sidrichardson.com/music/which-was-the-dream-which-was-the-veil/) - This work for violin and cimbalom was born out of research that I was doing for another piece, Eidolon, a chamber opera based on Hilda Doolittle’s epic poem Helen in Egypt. H.D.’s poem revisits and rewrites the myth of Helen of Troy. I am drawn to her poetry because of its relation to themes that
- [Smuggler](https://sidrichardson.com/music/smuggler/) - Smuggler for mixed chamber ensemble was inspired by Smuggler Mountain, also known as “Aspen’s Backyard.” Smuggler was a prominent source of silver, which was mined at many sites in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries and which helped put Aspen on the map. One can hike to the locations of various historic sites on the mountain such
- [Astrolabe](https://sidrichardson.com/music/astrolabe/) - The astrolabe is an astronomical device used to solve problems relating to time and the position of the celestial bodies in the sky. It was the primary astronomical education tool of ancient times, and as such astrolabes were fashioned by various cultures around the world for both scientific and astrological purposes. Aesthetically, the astrolabe was
- [Facelift](https://sidrichardson.com/music/facelift/)
- [Sun Compass](https://sidrichardson.com/music/sun-compass/) - Sun Compass takes its primary inspiration from desert navigation and, more broadly, from the idea of the exploration of an “imaginary landscape” along the lines of Paul Klee’s conception. I am drawn to solar navigation because of its propitious, mystical overtones in ancient cosmology. There are many forms of sun compasses, such as those invented

## Album

- [Borne by a Wind](https://sidrichardson.com/album/borne-by-a-wind/) - Borne by a Wind, Sid Richardson's debut album on New Focus Recordings. Featuring poet Nathaniel Mackey, pianist Conrad Tao, and the Da Capo Chamber Players.

## Categories

- [Uncategorized](https://sidrichardson.com/category/uncategorized/)
- [Performances](https://sidrichardson.com/category/performances/)
- [Awards](https://sidrichardson.com/category/awards/)
- [Residencies](https://sidrichardson.com/category/residencies/)
- [Reviews](https://sidrichardson.com/category/reviews/)

## Music Categories

- [Chamber Ensemble](https://sidrichardson.com/music-category/chamber-ensemble/) - Works for any grouping of two to seven players
- [Solo](https://sidrichardson.com/music-category/solo/) - Works for solo instruments
- [Vocal](https://sidrichardson.com/music-category/vocal/) - Works for voices, including art songs and pieces for mixed chamber ensemble
- [Large Ensemble](https://sidrichardson.com/music-category/large-ensemble/) - Works for eight to fourteen players
- [Theater](https://sidrichardson.com/music-category/theater/) - Music for the stage
- [Electronic](https://sidrichardson.com/music-category/electronic/) - Works that incorporate electro-acoustic elements, ranging from installations to fixed media playback with live performers
- [Orchestra/Wind Ensemble](https://sidrichardson.com/music-category/orchestra/) - Works for orchestra and wind ensemble of varying forces