BIOGRAPHY

Jill Richards is a South African pianist specialising in new music. Versatile and dynamic, her interests range from Bach to free improvisation.

Her career includes collaborations with numerous composers around the world. She has a longstanding working relationship with Kevin Volans who has written many works for her. She has premièred his piano solo and duo works written for her, with Volans as duo partner. Jill has worked with Jörg Schäffer, François Sarhan, Rudiger Meyer, Michael Blake, and many others. Her collaboration with Philip Miller has been extensive, with tours of live performances of his music to artist William Kentridge's films; the most recent of these was the Kentridge festival "Playing on Image" in Johannesburg in September 2011.

Jill improvises with sound artist João Orecchia, composer-percussionist Lukas Ligeti and visual artist Marcus Neustetter. She also worked with the late Zim Ngqawana. She is part of the recently formed Music Collective associated with Wits University in Johannesburg. 2012 will include partnerships with several Swiss composers and performers.

She has performed and been broadcast in the UK, Europe, North America and Australasia. Among these were the BBC broadcasts of the premières of solo and duo works of Kevin Volans. She has released five CD's, including the Grammy-nominated "Cicada" of Volans, as well as the complete piano music of Michael Blake.

Jill Richards is a Steinway Artist.

Curriculum Vitae