James Ricci (b. 1954 in NYC) composes compelling works for soloist, chamber ensemble, voice, and orchestra.
 

He studied in Boston at the Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory, and at Brandeis University with Donald Martino, Martin Boykan, and Harold Shapero. He also participated in diverse seminars and master classes in Europe and the United States with composers György Ligeti, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Earle Brown, Jacob Druckman, Ralph Shapey, Betsy Jolas, Sylvano Bussotti, Anthony Payne, Milton Babbitt and Elliott Carter.  He obtained fellowships to attend Indiana University Composer's Forum, the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Music, and in Europe on a Sacher grant (Brandeis University).

As co-director of the LUMEN Contemporary Music Ensemble Ricci curated a series of successful concerts of new music for both concert and educational settings.

His “To the Solar Winds” was commissioned by the Arlington Arts Council and premiered by the Solar Winds Woodwind Quintet.

A collection of his music for piano has been released by David Holzman for Albany Records (TROY1875).


George Grella of NY Classical Review wrote regarding his NYC premiere of Intermezzo, “Ricci explained that he took an intuitive approach to writing the music, exploring the pathways of his subconscious and the sound of the piano. It initially presents itself as an atonal work, but quickly and smoothly becomes the fundamentally romantic reverie of Ricci’s technical approach. The music seems to sound just the way it should and, in Holzman’s performance, was completely absorbing.”


New Music Connoisseur described Ricci’s Sonatina for Solo Viola as “…cleverly expressed, while the string writing is emotive, showy, and telling - a fine listen.”


Ricci’s music was nominated three times for an award from the American Arts and Letters.

His String Quartet No. 1 (1984) won mention in the 1985 Boston League-ISCM Competition and a recording by the QX String Quartet is available on streaming services.

Ricci's album of piano music titled "Musical Connections" was released in September of 2021. It features Grammy-nominated pianist David Holzman. It is available on the Albany Records label (TROY1875).

Two recent works by Ricci for orchestra - Rune and Night Music - were recorded by Filharmonie Brno (Czech Republic) for Ablaze Records and conducted by Mikel Toms. The recording is available under the title "Orchestral Masters Vol. 9" (Ablaze AR-00066).


In Boston Ricci held a position of Assistant Professor of Composition at the Berklee College of Music. He now resides in Chapel Hill, NC.

His work is published by Universal Edition (UE) and affiliated with BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.).

I am a British composer who specialises in music for theatre and have written several operas and musicals and a ballet. Alongside this runs an interest in writing music for the concert hall and works to date include much chamber music including a string quartet which made the finals of the Chamelion Composers' Competetion in 2000 held at Croydon's Clock Tower, a prize winning opera Fur (1998 Alan Rawsthorne Prize - awarded by the RNCM on graduation), and most recently a Piano Quartet (2006) which won the Primrose Composition Competition awarded by the LCM and has since been shortlisted by SPNM for their shortlist during the 2007 'Call for Scores'. Other music includes much orchestral music including in 1997, Towards the Gates of Heaven (first performed by the RNCM Wind Orchestra conducted by Clark Rundell) a vast tone poem depicting Jesus' resurrection into heaven. Also I have written several works for piano and organ (my two principal instruments) and music for the church. Works in progress include two musicals; 'Sirens' with book and lyrics by Anthony Dowlatshahi and 'Up in Arms' with book and lyrics by Laurence Roman. I graduated with a B Mus (Hons) degree from the RNCM in 1998, having studied Composition with Dr. Anthony Gilbert, and most recently in 2006, I completed a Masters in Theatre Composition at the London College of Music (music faculty of Thames Valley University) studying with Francis Pott and Laurence Roman (formally assistant to Andrew Lloyd Webber at RUG) and was awarded a Pass with Merit. My music can be heard on myspace and youtube also.

Short CV:

I was born in Prague - Czech republic. I began to study the piano when I was 8 years old and the cello at the age of 10. After graduating from the Electro-Technical Secondary School I was employed in the sound department of Czech TV in Prague.

In 1972 I passed the entrance examinations for university studies at the Academy of Performing Arts (HAMU - Music Faculty), where I studied composition, piano and music pedagogy.

Within the framework of the composition class I was chosen to attend the Summer Courses in Siena - Italy (prof. F. Donatoni). After completing my graduate composition for AMU (Concert for Piano and Orchestra), I was granted a post-gradual scholarship (for two years) at the State Conservatory in Moscow under prof. N. Sidelnikov.

Now I am employed as a pedagogue in the Department of Music and Sound at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague - Film and TV Faculty (FAMU) and Jazz Conservatory (KJJ) too.

Resides in Portland, Oregon. Grew up in Berkeley, CA. Born in Seattle.  PhD, Harvard. “Gary Noland is one of the great composers of the 21st century.”—JACK RUMMEL, KGNU 88.5 FM, Boulder CO, “...iconoclastic, stylistic potpourri standards of giddy humor, no holds barred soup to nuts and high spirits.”—ROBERT LEVIN, pianist, musicologist, composer, "...a fleet-fingered, ebullient performer ... bright, witty and engaging.”—CHRISTIAN CAREY, SPLENDID MAGAZINE, “...distinctive, inventive ... subversive ... You can hardly be indifferent to Noland’s music and so I would urge you to try it.” —ROGER BLACKBURN, MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL, “...set in a dizzying harmonic language that loops uncontrollably through a wide-ranging gamut of possible and impossible tonalities ... The general effect is like watching wet paintings of 19th Century musical memorabilia drip into frazzled 21st Century oblivion...” —ALLEN GIMBEL, AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE, “Mr. Noland writes as a ‘time traveler’ in styles long abandoned by most composers as well as styles so new as to not have been imagined but by him. This he accomplishes naturally, convincingly, with originality and true passion. His command of all musical languages and his ability to traverse musical time is nothing less than remarkable. Listen!”—DONALD MARTINO, Pulitzer Prize winning composer, “...mind-bending spiraling of focus which is truly breathtaking ... spectacular...”—CHARLES AMIRKHANIAN, composer, sound poet & radio producer, “I'm amazed at your harmonic skill. Haven't seen or heard anything like it from any one else—except yours truly—certainly not from your generation. It falls somewhere between Strauss and Mahler. Especially like how you are able to slip in and out from the tonal to the atonal—or near atonal...”—GEORGE ROCHBERG, American composer, Pulitzer Prize finalist, “...court jester to the classical establishment...”—PAYTON MACDONALD, AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE, “...florid and juicy...” —RICHARD BUELL, THE BOSTON GLOBE, “...an incredible aural web ... a great ostinato of American kitsch. Sul pont never sounded so good.”—RUSSELL STEINBERG, composer, conductor of the LOS ANGELES YOUTH ORCHESTRA, “...I am bowled over by the expertise of your music: you use certain elements from the 19th century and from jazz, etc., and just at the moment when I am about to say, OK, what else is new?, you do a number of things, such as speeding up, becoming wildly dissonant, modulating to a distant continent, stopping completely and throwing some kind of total surprise ... you seem to know exactly when to do what and how much. I don’t know anybody else who can do it!” —ANDREW IMBRIE, American composer, Pulitzer Prize finalist, “... remarkable stuff...”
—MAX MORATH, American ragtime pianist, composer, actor & author, “...a loony composer from Oregon...” —MAX SHEA, WMUA 91.1FM, Amherst, MA, “Gary Noland is one of those 21st Century composers seeking to forge a new aesthetic based on older models that do not traffic in serialism or minimalism ... Zany waltzes, ragtime riffs, chorales, toccatas, and much else romp and tear through these depictions of superheroes and villains from his ‘chamber novels’; other pieces spoof serial music ... to grand operas ... and Jewish guilt.” —JACK SULLIVAN, AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE, “...Paranoid Ravel...”—ALEX DUNN, KZSU FM90.3, Stanford, CA, “...It’s a romantic romp, rhythmically robust yet melodically flirting with the nostalgia of cabaret, minus the sleazy diminution of spilled drinks and smelly ashtrays. Its elegance recalls Elgar, and the serious sides, a synthesis of those strange bedfellows Schubert and Ives. Composers hate it when their music reminds you of someone else’s, but writing within a tradition, Noland has incorporated divergent styles that, woven together, work. Cosmopolitan without snobbery, it’s intelligent, pleasurable and convincing.” —ROCKY LEPLIN, THE BERKELEY VOICE

Actor and sometimes director. Searchable list of poems: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CCjGqAU4uz0dwo7X8e3MBnGorHOT0kYeUDYxLwEKeU4/htmlview#gid=0

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