James Richens
Resident Composer
In the twenty years that James Richens has been Composer in Residence with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra he has written and arranged numerous works in a variety of styles. Settings of gospel music, popular standards, Christmas and Hanukkah music as well as blues and Elvis Presley charts have contributed to the MSO Pops' Concert repertoire.
Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee he completed graduate work at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York where he studied composition with Bernard Rogers and Samuel Adler. Works commissioned by the MSO for its Masterworks Series include the "Icarus" Symphony, "A Joyful Noise" and "The Bells".
His widely recognized symphonic pops arrangements have been performed by many orchestras including the Cleveland Pops, the Colorado Symphony, the Charleston Symphony, the Nashville Symphony as well as the Memphis Symphony. His arrangements for “Sound Fuzion,” the University of Memphis pop vocal ensemble and his “Memphis Medley” were performed in China as part of a cultural exchange tour.
An award winning ASCAP composer for the last 30 years, he has written chamber music, ballets, education pieces and works for concert band. Outside the U.S. his works have been performed in England, France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Canada, S. Africa, Belgium, and Taiwan. Recent performances include: “Prelude & Dance” for solo clarinet & piano performed at the international “CLARINET FEST 2009” in Porto, Portugal. Also, the Tacoma (WA) Symphony, the Stockton (CA) Symphony and the Nashville Symphony plan to use Richens’ orchestral arrangements of holiday music this season.
Richens is Professor of Composition and Theory at the University of Memphis. For a catalog of works, click here.