I'm Richard, or in some circles, Ricky. I'm a composer living and working Philadelphia. I'm originally from a rural area of California (My first job was cleaning the packing shed for an Almond Farmer). I grew up playing the guitar and piano and started my career composing songs for my High School Rock Band. When graduation time came around I applied to college in order to learn to write a better rock song and ended up going on to Grad School in Composition.
I'm always looking for a new challenge and enjoy exploring a variety of ideas and genres through my work. Too often composers forget that we're just out her to enjoy ourselves and entertain our audience; I'm here to have a fun with my music and I enjoy nothing more than the incredible relationships I have formed with the performers who enjoy my work and the composers and other artists whose work I admire so much.
I am an Assistant Director of Education and Community Partnerships for the Philadelphia Orchestra & Executive Director of the Chamber Music Now Annual Concert Series . CMN produces about four one of a kind concerts per year with a wonderful variety of artists and ensembles. We present a tremendous amount of new music and have premiered close to 30 works in our first 5 seasons!
Formal Bio:
Richard Belcastro (b. 1976 and raised in Yuba City, California) is an active composer and musical activist in the Philadelphia area. His music has been called "an eclectic blend of melodic and rhythmic elements of Jazz and Rock and Roll with a uniquely contemporary harmonic vocabulary" - The NY Concert Review. His music is composed for a variety of instrumental combinations ranging from the very traditional to the distinctly odd as well as ventures into electro-acoustic music and purely electronic explorations.
Belcastro’s commissions have included works composed for Marilyn Nonken , The Serafin String Quartet , Network for New Music , Brian Sacawa , the PRISM Saxophone Quartet, , the Avian Orchestra , the AUROS Group for New Music and numerous others as well as performances at the Gothenburg Guitar Society’s new music festival in Sweden and the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. He has also recieved grants and awards from The Meet the Composer Foundation, ASCAP/SEAMUS, The Philadelphia Cultural Alliance & New Sounds Music Inc.
In addition to his work as a composer he is also the Executive Director of the Chamber Music Now Annual Concert Series in Philadelphia (www.chambermusicnow.org) where he is focused on bringing the most talented and entertaining performers from around the world to the eyes and ears of the Philadelphia community in unique musical productions and collaborative projects between a variety of arts and media. He also serves as Assistant Director of Education and Community Partnerships for the Philadelphia Orchestra. His work serves to better connect diverse artistic communities and most importantly to excite and revitalize the classical music audience in and outside of Philadelphia .
