Stephanie "Steph" Richards (born May 2, 1982) is a Canadian-American composer, trumpeter, bandleader and producer known for her contributions to the contemporary jazz and experimental music scenes.
[1] Her multidisciplinary approaches to composition, including her Supersense[2] project for scent and music with Jason Moran, Kenny Wollesen and Stomu Takeishi, have earned critical acclaim.
[5] Upon moving to New York City in 2008, Richards recorded and performed with notable pioneers of the avant-garde, ranging from composers Henry Threadgill,[6] Anthony Braxton, Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris and John Zorn to art-pop oriented artists Laurie Anderson, Yoko Ono, David Byrne and St. Vincent and contemporary composers John Luther Adams, Helmut Lachenmann, Nico Muhly and Louis Andriessen.
As an improviser she has worked with Ravi Coltrane, Jason Moran, Nicole Mitchell, Mark Dresser, Anthony Davis, Vijay Iyer, Tyshawn Sorey, Mary Halvorson, Ingrid Laubrock, Tom Rainey, Gerald Cleaver, Stomu Takeishi, JT Lewis, Tomeka Reid, Kenny Wolleson, Wayne Horvitz, John Hebert, Oscar Noriega, Liberty Ellman and Sylvie Courvoisier.
[17][18][19] As a conductor, she has worked with orchestras in Mexico,[20] Europe and the US[21] employing the musical language of "Conduction," which she gained under the mentorship of the late Butch Morris and J.A.