Richard Stanmeyer

Richard Stanmeyer is an award-winning trumpet player and pianist based in Boston and the Berkshires. His upbringing shaped not only his worldview, but it also has propelled his musical trajectory from a very young age that continues to this day.

Richard was born in Hong Kong, China, on November 14, 1999, and at age three his family moved to Bali, Indonesia. His father, a photographer, and his mother, a writer, both are working journalists who contributed for magazines such as National Geographic, Time, Newsweek, Stern, and other publications. Richard traveled with his parents to areas such as Vietnam, Cambodia, mainland China, and elsewhere, submerging themselves in the indigenous cultures of those areas. They lived in Southeast Asia for 12 years before moving to the Berkshires in western Massachusetts, where his parents continued to instill in Richard a deep love of music. Some of Richard’s biggest influences as an artist growing up included Keyon Harrold, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Nicholas Payton, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Tom Harrell, and Chet Baker.

Richard took a major step in 2018 when he moved to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music with a grant from the college’s Presidential Scholarship Committee and other major scholarships. Since attending Berklee, Richard has performed at Wally’s Jazz Café, the House of Blues with Nahko and Medicine for the People, the Middle East and PAX East with insaneintherainmusic, The Lilypad, and numerous venues at Berklee and the greater Boston area. He has studied with Tia Fuller, Jason Palmer, Charlie Lewis, Jeff Stout, and many others.

While at Berklee in early 2019, Richard formed the band CON7OUR, a contemporary jazz quartet that has performed throughout Boston for numerous public and private events. The group is a winner of the Berklee College of Music Brass Showcase Competition, for which Richard performed with guest artist Steve Davis (trombonist for Art Blakey, Jackie McLean) in October of 2019. CON7OUR had a sold-out debut at The Lilypad, an award-winning music venue in Cambridge, and a month-long residency at Abigail's Restaurant. The group was also the third-place winner for the 2020 Al Natale Brass Scholarship Competition.

Richard’s journey into live performance began long before Boston. Starting at the age of 12 in the Berkshires, he performed as a sideman and band leader in local clubs, restaurants, and major venues of the popular tourist destination. By 14 years old, Richard was deep into classical music and was accepted into the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI) summer program. There, he worked closely with internationally renowned soloist Terry Everson and performed in numerous recital halls throughout the Tanglewood festival grounds.

In 2015, Richard enrolled in the College Prep Program at the New England Conservatory (NEC). He then auditioned for the NEC Youth Jazz Orchestra in 2016, which he performed as lead trumpet for the 2016-18 seasons. Under the direction of Bob Nieske, they held numerous concerts at Jordan Hall, with some performances under the direction of Ken Schaphorst. He graduated in 2018 with high honors and received the Jazz Department Award for his work in the program.

Through high school, Richard performed with the Massachusetts Western District Jazz Band at UMass Amherst’s Fine Arts Center as lead trumpet from sophomore to senior years. In his junior and senior years, he performed in the Massachusetts All-State Jazz Band under the direction of Ronald Carter (saxophonist) and later Darcy James Argue. With this ensemble, he performed two consecutive years at Symphony Hall and Newport Jazz Festival, and in 2018 was featured as a soloist for the set at both venues.

Now 20, Richard continues remote recording work as a freelance musician during the COVID pandemic and plans to continue his studies at Berklee College of Music in the fall, remotely from the Berkshires, majoring in Professional Music with concentrations in Music Business and Trumpet Performance with a planned graduation of May 2021. Richard keeps expanding his musical repertoire and continues growing as a musician as he strives to enlighten, create change, discover truths — and express those findings in the music he plays.