Richard Brooks (b. 1942) is a native of upstate New York and holds a B.S. degree in Music Education from the Crane School of Music, Potsdam College, an M.A. in Composition from Binghamton University and a Ph. D. in Composition from New York University. In 1975 he joined the music faculty of Nassau Community College where he was Professor and Department Chair from 1983 until his retirement on January 1, 2005. In 2004 he was awarded the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Creativity.

From 1977 to 1982 he was Chairman of the Executive Committee of the American Society of University Composers (now the Society of Composers, Inc.) on which he continues to serve as the Producer of the SCI Compact Disk Series. In 1981 he was elected to the Board of Governors of the American Composers Alliance. After serving two terms as Secretary and three terms as Vice-President he was elected President in the Fall of 1993 and served in this position until 2002. He has also served as a member of the Junior/Community College Commission on Accreditation of the National Association of Schools of Music.

He has received a major grant from the SUNY Research Foundation (for composition), a Composer Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, an American Music Center grant and several Meet the Composer awards. In 1994 he received a commission for Quintet for Oboe (Sax) and Strings from the New York State Music Teachers National Association; premiere performance took place at the NYSMTA Conference in Ithaca, NY in October 1994. Landscape...with Grace, commissioned for the twentieth anniversary season of the Kent Philharmonia Orchestra in Grand Rapids, Michigan was premiered on April 21, 1996. Recent commissions include two organ preludes for the Lark Ascending ensemble for its production of The Great Debate in Hell (dramatic readings of the first two books of Milton’s “Paradise Lost”) and Cassation for harspichord, string quartet and percussion for Elaine Camparone. The Lark Ascending recently commissioned him again for Four Miniatures for viola and guitar for a dramatic reading of Milton’s “Samson Agonistes”. A second commission from the Kent Philharmonia Orchestra resulted in Concerto for Trumpet/Flugelhorn and Orchestra which was premiered in May 2006.

He is the New Music Connoisseur’s New Music Champion for 2006-2007 and was recently appointed Composer-in-Residence with The Lark Ascending performance ensemble.

He has composed nearly eighty works in all media. His opera for young audiences, Rapunzel, was commissioned by the Tri-Cities Opera (Binghamton) in 1971 and has been mounted also by the Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia, Wolf Trap Farm Park, the Denver Symphony/Central City Singers, and in Spring 2003 was given 11 performances by the Cincinnati Opera and an additional 65 performances in the 2003-2004 season on tour in the southeastern Ohio school systems. A full length opera, Moby Dick, was completed in 1987. A second full length opera, Robert and Hal, was completed in 2001. A workshop presentation of Robert and Hal was given on October 9, 2004 in New York City.
Sonata for violin and piano (1973) is published in Vol. XI of the ASUC Journal of Music Scores and recorded on Record no. 5 of the ASUC Record Series (Advance label). Prelude and Lament for wind quintet (1970) and Suite for Percussion (1975) are recorded on the Capstone label (CPS-8601). Chorale Variations for Horns and Strings is recorded on compact disk by the Constanta Symphony Orchestra (Capstone CPS-8627 "Tonus Tomis"). Seascape and Landscape...with Grace are recorded on Capstone CPS-8634 ("And the Eagle Flies.")

Numerous other performances have been given at important festivals held at Memphis State University, Louisiana State University, Bowling Green State University, Florida State University, the University of Georgia and the American Society of University Composers (now the Society of Composers, Inc.) Annual Conferences as well as other venues throughout the United States and Europe.

He is co-founder and President of Capstone Records.