BIOGRAPHY

Jill Richards’ passion for contemporary music started while she was a student at the University of Cape Town and has led to her being South Africa’s foremost performer of new piano music today.

Jill has long been associated with new music groups, workshops and festivals, ranging from events like the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in the UK (where her recent performances of works by Feldman, Kurtág and Stockhausen were broadcast by the BBC) to local events like the annual New Music Indaba at the Grahamstown National Arts festival, where she performs regularly.

Her special insight into new music performance comes also from her close work with composers (including a workshop with Russian composers in 1993, where her ensemble was the first group of South Africans to perform in post-communist Russia).

She has had a large number of works - from solo pieces to concertos - dedicated to her, including two sets of etudes by Kevin Volans (her UK premiere of which was subsequently broadcast by the BBC). Her collaboration with Volans started when she performed his two-piano work Cicada (later released on CD) at his 50th Birthday concert at the South Bank in London.

Jill also has a close working relationship with Philip Miller, the composer of the music for artist William Kentridge’s “9 Drawings For Projection” – a live film and music event that was performed locally as well as in Central Park, New York and the Barbican Centre, London.

She has been widely broadcast, not only in South Africa and the UK, but also in the US, and Europe. She has released four CDs. CDs of Kevin Volans’ Etudes and Cicada (with the composer as duo pianist), as well as the complete piano music of Michael Blake will be released in 2007.

Jill’s versatility means that she is equally at home with the standard repertoire, both as soloist and chamber musician. Her piano duo partners include Kevin Volans and Michael Blake, and she has also worked with jazz composers Surendran Reddy and Denzil Weale. She includes in her extensive repertoire music from across the African continent, which she has performed worldwide.

Jill Richards is a Steinway Artist.

Curriculum Vitae