James Ricci (b.
1954 in NYC) studied in Boston at the Berklee College of Music, New England
Conservatory, and at Brandeis University. His composition teachers included
Donald Martino, Martin Boykan, and Harold Shapero. He has participated in
diverse seminars and master classes both 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, and others.
He studied with Milton Babbitt at the Indiana University Composer's
Forum and at the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Music with Elliott Carter. As
co-director of the LUMEN Contemporary Music Ensemble in Arlington MA, Ricci
curated concerts of new music. His solo and chamber music has been performed by
Irina Chirkova, Jan Insinger, Kenneth Radnofsky, Wouter Schmidt, Wilma Smith,
the Lydian String Quartet, the QX String Quartet, the Xanthos Ensemble, Duo
Atlantica, the LUMEN Contemporary Music Ensemble, the Fauxharmonic Orchestra,
Collage New Music, the Annex Players, Solar Winds, and pianists David Holzman,
Martin Amlin, Donald Berman, John McDonald, and Janice Weber. His String
Quartet (1984) - a work that won mention in the 1985 Boston League-ISCM
Competition - was recently recorded by Boston's QX String Quartet.
Before moving to Chapel Hill, NC in 2013, Ricci was an Assistant
Professor of Composition at the Berklee College of Music.
