GRAMMY-winner Lucas Richman

Celebrates 60th Birthday

with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra

All-Richman program highlights the power of music to heal

BANGOR, ME

April 3, 2024 | by Brian Horner

Composer and GRAMMY Award-winning conductor Lucas Richman celebrates his 60th birthday with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra in a series of events showcasing his music as a manifestation of his deep belief in the healing power of music. A week of festivities culminates in the Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s 2023-2024 season finale, featuring compositions solely by Richman, on Sunday, April 28, at 3:00pm at the Collins Center for the Arts in Bangor, ME. Tickets and information at www.bangorsymphony.org.

The orchestral program on April 28 is comprised of three works which reflect Richman’s focus on social issues and the role music can play in education, awareness, healing and inspiration: Y’varechecha for chorus and orchestra (world premiere), Concerto for Violin: Paths to Dignity (with violinist Michell Newman), and Symphony: This Will Be Our Reply which was inspired by Leonard Bernstein’s statement following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.” Quite notably this past December, Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops featured the Symphony’s final anthem, “Tikkun Olam (Heal the World),” on all 36 of their Holiday Pops programs.

In the week leading up to the April 28th program, several community engagement events have been organized in support of the Paths To Dignity Project, a non-profit organization founded by Richman and Newman as a means by which music might inspire, and bring hope and dignity to the unsheltered community. The PTD Project, which includes performances of Concerto for Violin: Paths to Dignity, has fostered collaborations between cultural presenting organizations and homeless advocacy agencies in cities around the United States including Raleigh (NC), Kalamazoo (MI) and Kingsport (TN), with several more collaborations already in place over the next two years. “I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to make music with extraordinary human beings all over the world for much of my life,” Richman said, “and I am honored and humbled that my music is now being utilized in this manner for the greater good.”

Additionally, “Lucas and Friends” will present a concert curated from Richman’s catalog of music over a 45-year period of creativity on April 25 at the Bangor Arts Exchange, highlighting his chamber works for strings, piano and voice.

A GRAMMY-winning conductor, Lucas Richman has served as Music Director of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra since 2010 and held the position as Music Director of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra from 2003-2015. Over the course of nearly four decades on the podium, he has garnered an international reputation for his graceful musical leadership in a diverse field of media. He has appeared as guest conductor with some of the most prestigious orchestras in the United States and around the world, including the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Pops, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, the Oslo Philharmonic, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra and the Zagreb Philharmonic.

Also an accomplished composer, Mr. Richman has had his music performed by over two hundred orchestras across the United States including the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Pops and the symphonies of Detroit, Atlanta, New Jersey, and Houston. He has been commissioned by numerous organizations including the Pittsburgh Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, Bangor Symphony, Johnstown Symphony, the Debussy Trio, the Seattle Chamber Music Society and the Stulberg International String Competition.

“As the Bangor Symphony winds up its 128th season, I am excited to have a larger audience become aware of the great things we are doing in our community and, ultimately, for future generations of music lovers,” Richman mused.

For Press Inquiries and more information, contact Brian Horner:

bhorner@soundartistsupport.com or (615) 364-7656.