Richard Miller has been writing, performing, and arranging music for the past fifteen years. His experiences range from playing saxophone in Manhattan jazz clubs to composing Renaissance motets. His interests lie in the creative aspects of composition, artistic collaboration and performance.
During his high school years, Richard wrote and arranged for his own jazz quintet, playing weekly gigs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He went on to study jazz performance at the University of New Orleans under the tutelage of Ellis Marsalis. He completed his B.M. at William Paterson University, studying with such notable jazz figures as Rufus Reid, Kenny Burrell, Vic Juris and Harold Mabern. Richard has since gone on to form various jazz groups, from trios to septets, where he continues to develop as a jazz composer and improviser.
While pursuing his goals in the jazz idiom, Richard has also been active as a composer of instrumental music and modern dance scores. On November 5th, 2000, his “By the Leocorium” for saxophone quartet received its debut performance by the Surge Saxophone Quartet at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. His other instrumental works have been performed at the Manhattan School of Music, the MOSA Concert Series, and William Paterson University. In 2005, Richard joined choreographer Daniela Hoff’s modern dance company, Hofftanz, as company composer. Their first collaboration, Beneath the Skin, received performances at the Cool New York 2006 Dance Festival, the Flea Theater, the Mulberry Street Theater and the dancenOw/NYC Festival.
