About

Jacob Richter is a composer and pianist from the San Francisco Bay Area. He strives to write music that is approachable but also deeply layered and innovative – music that is immediately effective but takes on even greater meaning through repeated listens as intricacies in thematic development, counterpoint, and structure reveal themselves. His music favors rich lyricism, evocative harmony, and driving rhythms, and is alternately imbued with emotional intensity or lighthearted humor.

Jacob has been composing music ever since he can remember, creating a diverse body of work that includes concert compositions, musical theater works, and electronic music. His Prelude and Toccata for orchestra and mini-opera Apple a Day (libretto by John de los Santos) were premiered at the 2023 Mostly Modern Festival. At the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Jacob has premiered works such as Snickerdoodles (Serves 24), in which he sets a cookie recipe to music, and Crosstunes, in which the performers “solve” a crossword puzzle by playing the answers as sequences of musical notes. Other works of his have been recorded by the Unheard-of//Ensemble and the Friction Quartet. Jacob is currently composing a clarinet concerto for Ian McEdwards to premiere with the Oberlin Sinfonietta in May 2025, as well as Together, a piece for choir, large ensemble, and rock band about climate change.

In the musical theater realm, Jacob created the two-act musical All in Your Mind with Jake Berran and Joey Birdsong and co-music directed and conducted the premiere production with the Oberlin Student Theater Association in 2024. He also orchestrated and composed additional music for The World Is Only Magic, a musical by Phin Samdperil, and music directed the Oberlin Musical Theater Association’s 2023 production of the show.

As a pianist, Jacob has performed under the baton of Tim Weiss in the Oberlin Sinfonietta and Contemporary Music Ensemble. He has played in numerous recitals and musicals at Oberlin and services at Congregation Beth Am.

Jacob is currently pursuing a B.M. in composition at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Michael Frazier, Stephen Hartke, Jesse Jones, and Soomin Kim. He has previously studied composition and piano with Eric Weg, piano with Scott Cuellar, and composition with Elizabeth Ogonek and Jihyun Kim. He is also pursuing a B.A. in mathematics and computer science at Oberlin College.

When not composing or performing music, Jacob can often be found speedrunning video games, playing pool, biking, and designing board games.