A cross-genre eccentric, pianist Richard M Blumenthal currently resides in Ohio where the pawpaws grow. Comfortable in any setting that calls for piano, from academia to taprooms, following his graduate studies at the University of Georgia (MM Collaborative Piano) Blumenthal has held a wide range of positions as staff pianist, repetiteur, or music director at: Middle Tennessee State University, Louisiana State University, the International Tuba & Euphonium Conference, the Mid-South Flute Festival, Southeast Tuba Euphonium Workshop, Nickel City Opera in Buffalo NY, Manship Theater in Baton Rouge LA, and Town & Gown Players in Athens GA. An advocate of new music, and being entrenched in the wild world of modern saxophone repertoire, has led to performances at NASA saxophone conferences, MTNA state & division competitions, live rounds of the Naumberg Competition in NYC, numerous universities as niche pianist for hire, and touring stints across the southern & midwestern US.

With a wide-ranging interest in genres both popular and niche, Richard is an avid transcriber, arranger, & engraver, skills that make his teaching materials adaptable and fluid. With hundreds of pop, video game, rock, and soundtrack transcriptions & arrangements published and licensed through an artist contract with the musicnotes digital storefront, his library of accessible contemporary repertoire is constantly growing and often guided by requests from students and friends.

While rehearsing, performing, and recording has been the bulk of recent efforts, Richard received his Bachelor of Music Education (BME) in String Education as a violist from SUNY Fredonia, and has maintained an active interest in teaching & curriculum construction. Comfortable teaching the classical repertoire of his own academic upbringing and career path, Blumenthal’s broader skillset has also led to a remote teaching studio of students focusing on composing & arranging for their own bands or other projects, functional keyboard skills, and music theory as a conduit to effective communication with other musicians. Remaining active as a string player for pit orchestras & student composer premieres at each of the university stops along his checkered past, the Middle Tennessee Sinfonietta, touring substitute bassist for Chicago postrock outfit Outrun the Sunlight, and recently for a studio jazz orchestra recital at Michigan State University, Richard is a happy violin/viola doubler with experience as both a group lesson teacher and private individual instructor.

Rounding out Blumenthal’s pursuit of all facets of music making, his interest and development of a home recording studio has led to work as a session musician for diverse genres from lo-fi hip hop to mathrock. As a member of progressive metal band Aviations, recent tours in 2024 have led across the US & Canada in direct support of Finnish progmetal band Wheel, as well as a small number of shows opening for German metallers Unprocessed & Canadian metalcore Red Handed Denial. Blumenthal also has released four albums of modern fusion music over the last decade with drummer James Knoerl under the moniker of ‘blumen’ that have been described as “astonishingly complex and tightly played music” as well as “SO unpleasant to listen to”. The duo recently (finally) made their live debut in 2025, incorporating technology & music as part of the Frequency Friday concert series through Columbus’s own Fuse Factory arts initiative.

When sheltered at home in the woods, Richard enjoys traipsing around the gardens in the company of wife Allison, their indeterminate number of cats, and Clover the three-legged pampered pooch.

Education:

• Master of Music in Collaborative Piano, University of Georgia

• Bachelor of Music Performance in Piano, SUNY Fredonia

• Bachelor of Music Education in Strings, Viola Concentration, SUNY Fredonia

Specialties

• Classical Piano

• Musical Theater/Rock/Pop Piano & Keyboard Skills

• Violin & Viola

• Music Theory

• Recording, Mixing, Music Technology, DAWs

• Transcribing, Arranging, Engraving