Richard Shulman

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Richard Shulman Bio
Keyboardist and composer Richard Shulman creates music intended to be a positive influence for himself, audiences and society.
Richard has recorded 28 of his own albums and collaborated on dozens more. Trained in the classical and jazz fields, he has developed a heartfelt language in these genres while focusing a significant amount of his output on music for meditation, healing and inspiration.
He has performed at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Art Park, the United Nations, the Kool Jazz Festival, The Amenia Peace Festival and throughout North America and in Europe. Shulman has composed over 85 jazz tunes plus pieces for chamber ensemble, choir, and symphony orchestra.
Born and raised in Niagara Falls, NY, he began piano lessons at age seven. Shulman graduated from the University of Rochester with a double-major BA in music (piano) and psychology, taking his music courses at the prestigious Eastman School of Music studying jazz with Chuck Mangione and Marian McPartland. He continued jazz studies with Frank Foster (Count Basie) at the University of Buffalo while getting his Masters in Music Composition.
After moving to New York City he performed and recorded with a host of musicians (see https:// richheartmusic.com/about/richard-shulman/ for details). A spiritual search led him to meditation classes and to creating music for meditation and healing along with his jazz.
His first recording in this meditative style was the extemporaneous solo piano album, World Peace, recorded on the 40th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. This album had been suggested by healer Ron Young who also showed him that he could create music for individuals for healing and alignment. These recordings became known as “Musical Soul Portraits” and have been a feature of Shulman’s solo concerts and work with individuals families and groups ever since.
Shulman’s spiritual immersion led to his CDs Light from Assisi and Transformation at Assisi, inspired by spiritual pilgrimages to the town of Assisi in Italy where St. Francis was born. From 1996 through 2005 Richard focussed on the creation of the CD and DVD/video Camelot Reawakened: A Vision Fulfilled. Inspired by an inner vision, this project follows the manifestation of “Dreams of the Heart” in music and words. The CD and DVD feature a 35-piece orchestra, a choir, soloists, and Shulman at the piano.
The Camelot Reawakened CD won a 2003 Coalition of Visionary Resources (COVR) Visionary Award, and the DVD was a finalist in the 2006 awards. The DVD has also won an Award of Excellence and an honorable mention in the 2007 Accolade Competition.
Shulman’s solo piano CD, Music of Peace, released in June, 2006 is music dedicated to and expressing inner peace. His 2008 release, 11:11 Piano Meditations for Awakening, won a 2009 COVR Award in the meditational/healing music category. Sky Jazz (2009), was Shulman’s first Jazz CD in many years.
In 2013, Shulman created “Bliss of Being” with the Pure Heart Ensemble which was nominated for a Zone Music Reporter award in the “Best New Artist” category, It tracked at #11 for two months on the ZMR chart and was #1 on Music Direct’s “Soundscapes” twice, and in their top 20 for over a year.
Projects released in 2018 are “Turned into Lemonade” with The Richard Shulman Group and “A New Awareness: Music of the Twelve Rays” a meditative CD designed to complement a book on the Twelve Rays by Michael G. Love. 2019 brought the release of jazz trio album "Waltzing out of Town."
Shulman’s new album Life Seasons is vocal and instrumental music expressing the seasons and the depth of love possible from sharing life over many years. Richard Shulman currently lives in Asheville, NC and performs and records regionally, nationally and internationally.