VCU’s Institute for Contemporary Art and In Your Ear presented Rex Richardson on Wednesday February 6, 2019 as part of an exciting partnership that offered something a little different than our regular In Your Ear studio concert. Stellar RVA trumpeter Rex Richardson and an a-list band played in the ICA’s stunning new theater (capacity 200) to a sold out and very appreciative audience.

Applause was heard often after band members took solos. As Rex Richardson said the show was all too short but he was appreciative to be asked to play in such an incredible hometown venue and to such a supportive audience since he mostly plays on the road and rarely in Richmond. The show made many in the audience feel as if they had been transported to a NYC jazz club if only for an hour or so.

Light refreshments were served (no pot luck) and beer and wine was available for purchase at the adjacent Ellwood’s Cafe in the lobby. We’re eager to pursue this relationship as it will give us a viable alternative venue for acts that would likely outdraw our 80-seat capacity at IYE. Stay tuned for future events.

About Rex Richardson

A veteran of the acclaimed chamber ensemble Rhythm & Brass, jazz legend Joe Henderson’s Quintet and Sextet, William Russo’s Chigago Jazz Ensemble, and the Brass Band of Battle Creek, known as the world’s “Rolls Royce of Brass Bands” (Brass Band World), Rex Richardson stays busy as a headline artist at international classical and jazz festivals and as a soloist with a multitude of orchestras, concert bands, brass bands and jazz ensembles on five continents.

These ensembles have ranged from the Phoenix and Oregon Symphonies to the U.S. Army Field Band and Tokyo Wind Ensemble, and from England’s Fodens Brass Band to the U.S. Air Force’s Airmen of Note Jazz Ensemble.

Richardson has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University since 2002. He served as Yamaha Artist-in-Residence for the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England for spring of 2012 and thereafter served the RNCM as International Tutor in Trumpet until 2015. He has a degree in Anthropology from Northwestern University and degrees in Music from Louisiana State University.

“A startling display of virtuosity…This was something very different, played by a performer of rare gifts indeed.” – 4barsRest.com, in a review of Rex Richardson’s performance at the 2013 World Music Championship in Kerkrade, Netherlands