Music Director
Keyboardist and composer Richard Shulman creates music intended to be a positive influence for himself, audiences and society.
Richard has recorded 27 of his own albums as well as more than two dozen other recordings for which he has provided compositions, performances and/or musical production. Trained in the classical and jazz fields, he has developed a heartfelt language in these genres while focussing a significant amount of his output on music for meditation, healing and inspiration. He currently divides his concert schedule between performances of his meditation music and his original jazz as personified by The Richard Shulman Group.
Shulman has performed at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Art Park, the United Nations, the Kool Jazz Festival, The Amenia Peace Festival and a wide variety of other venues throughout North America and in Europe.
As a composer, Shulman has created over eighty pieces for jazz quartet as well as songs and pieces for chamber ensembles, choir, and symphony orchestra. In 1986 and 1987 he composed music for orchestra and jazz quartet during residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. From 1986 through 1995, Shulman was the principal composer for “Theatre of the Heart,” a cooperative of dancers, singers, and musicians dedicated to fostering community and the environment. Commissions include a piece for the Amherst Saxophone Quartet, and “May Peace Prevail on Earth” for singers, symphony orchestra, three choirs, and jazz quartet, created for the World Peace Prayer Society. In addition, he has created hundreds of ‘Musical Soul Portrait‘ recordings for individuals, couples, and groups.
In New York City, he found himself on a spiritual search which lead him to meditation classes. While continuing his jazz performances, Shulman began playing for the meditation and healing groups which he attended. His first recording incorporating some of this meditative style was the extemporaneous solo piano album, “World Peace,” recorded on the 40th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. This album had been suggested by a healer who also showed him that he could create music for individuals for healing and alignment. These recordings became known as “Musical Soul Portraits” and have been a feature of Shulman’s solo concerts ever since. This work led him into creating more albums for healing and meditation, including “A Higher Dimension,” “Light Music,” “Music for Magnified Healing,” “First Rites” and “Sacred Music for Healing Hands Volumes 1 & 2.”