Rich Shemaria:
Composer, Arranger, and Pianist

Rich Shemaria is a New York City based composer. 

Rich has written music for Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder, Tom Scott, John Scofield, Joe  Lovano, Chris Potter, Michael and Randy Brecker, Lenny Pickett, Teo Macero, The  Airmen of Note and a host of others. From 1994-96, he served as director of the UMO Jazz Orchestra, the national radio big band of Finland based in Helsinki, where he recorded two albums: The Prescription: The Music Of Lenny Pickett and Michael  Brecker: Live In Helsinki 1995, both on Random Act Records. With UMO, he toured with Natalie Cole and conducted performances with Michael Brecker, Paquito d’Rivera, Lenny Pickett, Mercer Ellington, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Houston Person.  His album 3:AM (Amosaya Records), features his own New York big band, The Rich Shemaria Jazz Orchestra.    

Rich is also the composer/pianist for the band Combo Nuvo and has orchestrated  much of Combo Nuvo’s music for the symphony. The group recently recorded his One World Suite, a positive statement on climate change.  

Rich’s orchestrations for Combo Nuvo have been featured at iconic venues around  the world including the Blue Note Jazz Club, Birdland and Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola in  New York City. Internationally, they have been featured with orchestras such as the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional of Costa Rica, the Peru National Symphony (Lima), the United Arab Emirates Philharmonic in Abu Dhabi, the i Solisti dell Orchestra del  Teatro Verdi (Florence, Italy) and the Morin Khuur Ensemble; the National  Symphony of Mongolia.  

Rich also writes original music for concert orchestras and chamber ensembles.  His  Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra (2019) was premiered by the Midcoast  Symphony Orchestra featuring Wayne du Maine on trumpet.  He recently completed  his Concerto For Bassoon, Winds, Piano & Strings (2021) for New York City  bassoonist, Gil Dejean.  His George Gershwin Medley (2021) for vocalists and string  orchestra was commissioned by New York University and premiered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.  Two recent compositions for  woodwinds are his Trilogy for Reeds (2022) for double reed sextet and his woodwind  quintet composition, Theatre Music for Lost Souls (2024). 

Rich is also an educator and has served on the faculties of Mannes College (NYC), the 

Sibelius Academy (Helsinki, Finland) and the New School.  Currently,  he teaches  composition at New York University, where he has been part of the faculty since  2003.