Hailed by The New York Times as “an emerging Maestro…boldly inventive” trumpeter and composer Steph Richards bridges jazz and creative music, often integrating electronics, choreography, film, and even scent into groundbreaking projects presented at premier venues and festivals worldwide. These include Lincoln Center, the Blue Note, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Sawdust, the Guggenheim, the Park Avenue Armory, the Barbican (UK), Berliner Konzerthaus (Germany), and Bimhuis (Netherlands).
Hailed as “A rising force in avant-garde jazz…Steph Richards is a virtuoso of otherworldly trumpet sound” (Jazz Times), Richards has collaborated with pioneering figures in creative music and art, from work with Henry Threadgill, Anthony Davis, Anthony Braxton and Jason Moran to Yoko Ono, Laurie Anderson and David Byrne. A founding member of Bang on a Can’s Asphalt Orchestra, she also performs with leading new music and improvisation ensembles such as the International Contemporary Ensemble and Braxton’s Tricentric Orchestra.
As a recording artist, Richards has released five acclaimed solo albums—including Supersense (2019), which combined music with custom scent art, and Zephyr (2021)—both awarded multiple “Best of the Year” distinctions and earning recognition from The New York Times, DownBeat, Jazz Times, and NPR. Her work as an improviser, composer, and conductor of experimental ensembles continues to expand the language of contemporary music on an international scale.
Building on her formative work with “Conduction” innovator Butch Morris, Richards has become a leading voice in the practice. She has conducted orchestras worldwide including Mexico’s Orquesta Academia Cervantina (Guanajuato) and Ensemble Semana de Improvisación (Ensenada), as well as groups in Colombia, Luxembourg, Canada and the United States.
Originally from Calgary, Canada, Richards has spent much of her career in NYC and on the West Coast, and has championed artistic diversity as a festival producer and faculty member. For years she was Executive Producer/Vice President of the Festival of New Trumpet (FONT) in New York City and Font West in San Diego. She has served on the faculty of the Chosen Vale Center for Advanced Musical Studies alongside Hakan Hardenberger, the Banff Centre for Jazz & Creative Music Workshop alongside Vijay Iyer and Tyshawn Sorey, and as Professor at the University of California, San Diego. She recently joined the faculty at the University of Washington, Seattle, where she continues to foster interdisciplinary creative making. Richards is a Yamaha Performing Artist.
“Steph Richards is a virtuoso of otherworldly trumpet sound… Not since the early days of the Art Ensemble of Chicago has ‘out’ felt so inside…As for Richards, her unorthodox approach continues to make the trumpet seem infinitely expressive, a Technicolor instrument that others insist on playing in black-and-white. “ – Jazz Times