Steven Rickards

Steven Rickards, countertenor, is the founder and Artistic Director of Echoing Air, Inc. He has received international acclaim as one of the finest American countertenors of his generation. Since his Carnegie Hall debut in Handel’s Messiah with the Oratorio Society of New York, Rickards has performed internationally as a soloist with leading ensembles, including Joshua Rifkin’s Bach Ensemble, the American Bach Soloists, Apollo’s Fire, Chicago’s Music of the Baroque, the Folger Consort, the Gabrieli Consort, the New London Consort, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, and the Baroque orchestras of Indianapolis, Seattle, and Portland.

Ensemble singing has played an important part in Rickards’ musical life, especially his work with Chanticleer and Paul Hillier’s Theatre of Voices. Rickards can be heard on numerous record labels, including Chanticleer, Decca, Dorian, Four Winds, Gothic, Harmonia Mundi, Koch, Newport Classics, Smithsonian, and Teldec. His recordings of lute songs of John Dowland and Thomas Campion may be found on the Naxos label. Rickards is also a published composer and an advocate for new music. In his book "Twentieth Century Countertenor Repertoire" (Scarecrow Press), he championed the creation and collection of contemporary works for the countertenor. It is the only published resource on the subject.

Rickards was featured in the premiere of John Adams’s oratorio "El Niño" at the Châtelet Opera in Paris in 2000, and he has since performed the piece in numerous venues throughout the world. Additional operatic premieres include John Eaton’s operas "Danton and Robespierre" at Indiana University and "The Tempest" at the Santa Fe Opera. He also premiered Bruno Moretti’s "Vespro" with the New York City Ballet.

Dr. Rickards received his undergraduate and master's degrees from Indiana University. A Fulbright-Hays Scholarship and Rotary Grant provided funds for additional study in London at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His doctorate was conferred by Florida State University. He has served on the faculty of the Historical Performance Institute at the IU Jacobs School of Music and currently teaches at Butler University, Marian University, and the University of Indianapolis.