Called “wholesome-looking” by the New York Times, violist John Pickford Richards has gained a reputation for performing new and unusual music throughout North America and Europe.

He is a founding member of the ensemble Alarm Will Sound, bringing him into contact with composers such as John Adams, Meredith Monk, and Steve Reich at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Alarm Will Sound has held residencies at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, Duke University, and Dickinson College.

In addition to his work with Alarm Will Sound, John is a founding member of the JACK Quartet, which has worked closely with composers Helmut Lachenmann, György Kurtág, Matthias Pintscher, Wolfgang Rihm, and Elliott Sharp with appearances at Carnegie Hall, the Lucerne Festival, and La Biennale di Venezia.

John has performed as soloist with the Pasadena Symphony, Armenian Philharmonic, Ossia New Music, and, most recently, with the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra playing the solo part to Luciano Berio’s Chemins II under the direction of Pierre Boulez. He holds degrees from the Interlochen Arts Academy and Eastman School of Music where his primary teachers were David Holland and John Graham.