Richard Beaudoin

Richard Beaudoin (born October 10, 1975) is an American composer of contemporary music. His music and writings explore compositional uses of expressive timing, or microtiming.

Life Beaudoin was born in North Attleborough, Massachusetts. He graduated from North Attleborough High School in 1993, studied privately with bassist Mibbit Threats, and enrolled at Amherst College in 1993 where he remained for three years, studying with Lewis Spratlan.

In 1996, he withdrew from Amherst College and spent a year living in Mortlake, near London, studying composition privately with Michael Finnissy. He returned to Amherst College and graduated summa cum laude in 1998. He was a MacDowell Colony Fellow in January 1999.

In 2000, Beaudoin returned to London and earned his M.Mus. in Music Composition from London's Royal Academy of Music in 2002, studying again with Michael Finnissy. He returned to the United States and, in 2008, earned his Ph.D. in Composition and Music Theory from Brandeis University, studying composition with David Rakowski and Martin Boykan, and theory with Eric Chafe.

While still a Ph.D. student at Brandeis, he held two visiting professorships at Amherst College: as Joseph A. and Grace W. Valentine Visiting Professor of Music at Amherst College (2005–06) and as Visiting Professor of Music (2007). Since earning his Ph.D., he has taught composition and theory at Harvard University, first as lecturer on Music (2008–11) and then as Preceptor in Music (2011–present).

Music Beaudoin's most widely performed works are those related to expressive timing, or microtiming. This process, which he developed in 2009 with the Swiss musicologist Olivier Senn, is based on millisecond-level microtemporal analyses of recorded performances. The timing measurements of every sound in a given recording are used to create a detailed transcription of the recording in musical notation, often in elongation.

Beaudoin has composed cycles of works based on microtimings of specific recordings. The twelve works in the series Études d'un prélude (2009–2010) are based on Martha Argerich's October 1975 recording of Chopin's E minor Prélude, Op. 28, no. 4. The six works in the series The Artist and his Model (2010–2012) are based on Alfred Cortot's July 1931 recording of Debussy's Prélude, "...La file aux cheveux de lin". Other source works have included Maurizio Pollini performing Anton Webern (nach Webern, nach Pollini 2011), Thelonious Monk improvising on "Body and Soul" (Now anything can hang at any angle 2011), and Pablo Casals performing Johann Sebastian Bach (Ebenbild 2014).

In addition to the music based on microtiming, Beaudoin has written over 50 songs, including a cycle of 17 songs called Nach-Fragen (The Inquiries), for the German soprano Annette Dasch, commissioned by the Konzerthaus Dortmund. He has also composed chamber operas for Boston Lyric Opera and Staatstheater Kassel.

Writings on these works, by Beaudoin and others, have appeared in the Journal of Music Theory, Perspectives of New Music, Divergence Press, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, and David Bard-Schwarz's 2014 book, An Introduction to Electronic Art Through the Teaching of Jacques Lacan: Strangest Thing. Beaudoin has lectured widely on his music, including at the Centre for Music and Science at Cambridge University, the Royal Academy of Music in London, and at the Hochschule, Luzern in Switzerland.

Recordings include Microtimings (New Focus Recordings, 2012), a double album by Mark Knoop and the Kreutzer Quartet, and Constantine Finehouse's Backwards Glance Piano Music by Brahms and Beaudoin (Spicerack Records, 2010). A collection of six scores was published in the handmade artist book Richard Beaudoin: The Artist and his Model (Daniel Kelm, 2014).

Works (partial list) Year Type Title 1999 Orchestra/Large ensemble Two Women 2000 Orchestra/Large ensemble Arcangelo 2001 Orchestra/Large ensemble I Hear America Singing Three Dreams Choral A stand of people, a cappella choir 2002 Songs Light Verse, voice and piano 2004 Solo Qui Tollis 2005 Chamber In höchster Not, for violin and piano, dedicated to Jesse Holstein Love Affairs and Tales of Atrocity Solo Five Counterpoints La bella confusione Songs Eunoia Songs, tenor and piano 2006 Solo Étude: The world itself might be vague Les signes de ma faiblesse 2007 Chamber Memor fui nocte nominis tui—First String Quartet Opera Pierre Songs Romanzero Lieder, tenor and piano 2008 Solo Summer Canons Opera Himmelfahrt (Ascension), chamber opera for six voices Songs Nach-Fragen, voice and piano 2009 Orchestra/Large ensemble Étude d'un prélude V—Photorealism Chamber Étude d'un prélude II—Flutter Echoes Étude d'un prélude VI—The Real Thing Étude d'un prélude VII—Kertész Distortion Étude d'un prélude X—Second String Quartet Solo Étude d'un prélude XI—four28 Étude d'un prélude VII—Latticed Window Étude d'un prélude IV—Black Wires Étude d'un prélude I—Chopin desséché Songs Étude d'un prélude III—Wehmut 2010 Chamber The Artist and his Model II—La durée sans contacts s'affaiblit, string quartet Solo The Artist and his Model I—La fille floutée nach Webern, nach Pollini Opera The After-Image (Das Nach-Bild), bass, mezzo-soprano, clarinet, violin, violoncello and piano Songs dreifacher Frühling 2011 Chamber The Artist and his Model IV—La tradition française Solo Now anything can hang at any angle The Artist and his Model III—La fille rhythmée Opera The After-Image (Das Nach-Bild) Choral Villanelle for an Anniversary 2012 Chamber The Artist and his Model VI—La fille dérivée Solo The Artist and his Model V—Brûlage Songs Three Darsham Songs 2014 Orchestra/Large ensemble Ebenbild Chamber Ladies and Gentlemen