Ian Richter (b. 1990) is a contemporary saxophonist who has been praised for his “assured” performance (The Baltimore Sun). He specializes in music which bridges the classical, jazz,and popular traditions of saxophone playing, and which often incorporates elements of theater and multimedia. In particular, Ian has commissioned and performed numerous new works for saxophone and multimedia, including “Steampunk” (Stephen Edwards, 2010), “Shipbreaking” (Benjamin Taylor, 2012), and “Drum ‘N’ Bari” (Benjamin Taylor, 2014). Most recently, he and singer Hanna van Rooijen premiered Kevin Clark’s theater piece for saxophone and soprano voice, “Finishing the Rose,” in February 2016.
Ian studied with Gary Louie at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from Peabody with Bachelors of Music in Saxophone (2012) and Recording Arts (2013), and a Master of Arts in Audio Sciences – Acoustics Concentration (2014). In 2015, Ian was awarded the prestigious U.S. Fulbright Student Grant to continue his studies at the Fontys Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Tilburg, the Netherlands, where he studied with saxophonists Niels Bijl and Ties Mellema. In 2017, Ian graduated from Fontys with a Master of Music in Saxophone Classical Music.
While at Peabody, Ian was honored as a finalist in the 2013 Yale Gordon Concerto Competition for his performance of Richard Rodney Bennett’s “Concerto for Stan Getz.” More recently, he was awarded the Entreeprijs in Performance of the 2017 Theaterfestival Boulevard in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands. Ian currently performs both as a soloist and as a member of the R-Rated Trio, and in all contexts seeks to develop programs that will guide audiences into the unknown, making connections between familiar sounds and the strange and wondrous world of today’s art music.
