Composer-pianist Richard Cameron-Wolfe was born in Cleveland, Ohio, USA and received his music training at Oberlin College and Indiana University. His principal piano teachers were Joseph Battista and Menahem Pressler; his composition teachers included Bernard Heiden, Iannis Xenakis, Juan Orrego-Salas, and John Eaton.
After brief teaching engagements at Indiana University, Radford College (Virginia), and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Cameron-Wolfe moved to New York City, where he performed and composed for several major ballet and modern dance companies, including the Joffrey Ballet and the Jose Limon Company. In 1978 he began a 24-year Professorship at Purchase College, State University of New York, teaching music history, composition, and music resources for dancers and choreographers. He resigned in 2002 - while he could still walk and think - relocating to the mountains of northern New Mexico in order to dedicate his life to composing.
As a composer, one of his particular interests is micro-opera, a very short theatrical work of 5 to 15 minutes duration, developed through the collaboration of composer, writer (preferably a poet), a scenic/costume designer (preferably a visual artist), and a videographer. The work is intended to be staged in small spaces and could be broadcast on television or the web. // Since 2018, Cameron-Wolfe has explored microtonality, including 18, 24, 36, and 48 EDO – creating five microtonal works, including the 2023 Arcturus for guitar sextet.
Devoted to the promotion of modern/contemporary concert music, Cameron-Wolfe has served as an administrator for several musical organizations: Friends of American Music (1974 to 2004), the New Mexico Music Festival (1978-82), Music from Angel Fire (1984 season), The Charles Ives Center for American Music (1990-92), and as Executive Director of the American branch of CESAME: the Center for Soviet/American Musical Exchange (1989-93). He frequently presents guest lectures and workshops and has served as adjudicator for composer and performer competitions - in the USA and abroad.
Over the past decade Cameron-Wolfe’s music has been performed at Totaldobže (Riga, Latvia); the Cosmonautics Museum, Zhytomyr Music College, and Ivan Franko University (Zhytomyr, Ukraine); Come In Gallery, Cathedral of the Assumption, Cxid Opera Summer Stage, Kotlyarevsky University of Arts, and in a “Richard and Friends” event at Cxid Opera House (Kharkiv, Ukraine); Moscow Autumn Festival, Union of Composers Hall, Kamburova Theater of Music and Poetry, and Roerich Museum (Moscow, Russia); Tenri Cultural Institute, Cary Hall, Thalia Theater, Spectrum, and National Opera Center (Manhattan, NYC); Two Days and Two Nights Festival (Odessa, Ukraine); St. Petersburg Spring Festival, Union of Composers Hall, and Roerich Family Museum-Institute (St. Peterburg,Russia); Scripps College (Claremont, California); CalArts (Santa Clarita, California); Grinnell College (Iowa); Ukrainian Composers Union, Tchaikovsky Academy of Music, House of Culture/MasterKlass, House of Artists, and Lesya Kurbasa Center (Kyiv); Canterbury Performing Arts Center (Christchurch, New Zealand); Siberian Festival of Contemporary Music - Dmitry Hvorostovsky Siberian State Academy of Arts (Krasnoyarsk); during the “Small is Beautiful” Microtonal Symposium, Mozarteum (Salzburg, Austria); Het Cenakel (Tilburg, Netherlands); Old Fish Performance Space (Covid Zoom from Chicago); Zeitgeist (St. Paul, Minnesota); Anderson Center (Red Wing, Minnesota); Concert Hall of the Franciscan Monastery (Vilnius, Lithuania)
Recordings: His compositions and piano performances are available on the following recordings - Reconciliation (6 compositions), 1989 LP record Opus One 142 // Paris X (piano music of Rudhyar and Satie), 2003 CD Furious Artisans FACD 6807 // Musique de la Rose-Croix (piano, Satie's Uspud), 2006 LTM [Les Temps Modernes] LTMCD 2469) // Burning Questions (7 compositions), 2012 Furious Artisans FACD 6813 // American Avant-Garde in the 20th Century (piano, Rudhyar), 2014 2-CD set LTMCD 2579 // French Avant-Garde in the 20th Century (piano, Rudhyar), 2014 2-CD set LTMCD 2571 // "Code of Unsilence: A Prayer" on pianist Yael Manor's 2015 ACA-produced CD Elixir // An Inventory of Damaged Goods (9 compositions), 2018 Furious Artisans FACD6818 // Passionate Geometries (9 compositions), 2023 New Focus CD // Telesthesia (cello quartet), 2023 Evil Penguin/Antarctica [Belgium] AR055 // 2023 4-CD set Satie: Art Works 1892-1924 (piano, Uspud ), Les Disques du Crepuscule TWI 1258 CD.
