Composer-pianist Richard Cameron-Wolfe was born in Cleveland, receiving his music training at Oberlin College and Indiana University. His principal teachers were Joseph Battista and Menahem Pressler (piano); Bernard Heiden, Iannis Xenakis, and John Eaton (composition).
After teaching briefly at Indiana University, Radford College, 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. In 1978 he began a 23-year Professorship at Purchase College, SUNY, resigning in 2002 in order to focus on the piano and composing.
Devoted to the promotion of modern classical music (which he prefers to call “sound art”), Cameron-Wolfe has served as an administrator for several musical organizations: Friends of American Music (1974 to the present), the New Mexico Music Festival (1978-82), Music from Angel Fire (1984), The Charles Ives Center (1990-91), and as Executive Director of the American branch of CESAME: the Center for Soviet/American Musical Exchange (1989-93).
He now lives in the mountains of northern New Mexico, where he teaches piano and hosts a monthly web-streaming three-hour “Sunday Morning [Un]Classics” radio show (dominated by 20th-century music). His current projects include the recording and editing of two CDs – one of his own compositions, the other showcasing his unique piano repertoire of music by lesser-known 20th-century composers. He is currently preparing for an autumn 2009 concert tour in Russia, playing works by Dane Rudhyar, Leo Ornstein, and Thomas de Hartmann, and will be attending the premiere of his opera “Liaison (with Roses)” at the Roerich Museums in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
ARQ: Region III - Refuge (2008)
ARQ is a projected seven-movement work for chamber orchestra with prominent piano part, designed as a means of escape from (the corrupt system of) reality. The design and destiny of this "ship" is indebted to both the story of Noah and to the Book of Revelation. Each of its seven sections will exist independently in a chamber music manifestation, and "Refuge" is Region III of the structure. Its function in relation to the whole can be summarized by the progression from refuge [from the conflict of Region II] through meditation to purification.
(World Premiere)
