Richard Carsey enjoys a varied career as conductor, pianist, actor and writer. On Broadway he has conducted “The Phantom of the Opera”, and the revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel” with Joshua Henry, Jessie Mueller, and Renée Fleming. He was music director for the Broadway production of “The House of Blue Leaves”, starring Ben Stiller and Edie Falco. At Lincoln Center Theater he was music supervisor for the world premiere musical “A Minister’s Wife” by Joshua Schmidt and Austin Pendleton. Richard is currently the conductor for The Orchestra Japan’s “Disney on Classic”, an annual 35-city concert tour of Japan which was broadcast on DisneyPlus. A recent career highlight was conducting “Beauty and the Beast” at the 10,000-seat Yokohama Arena, with live orchestra accompanying the 1991 animated film. The evening’s special guest artist was the film’s composer, Alan Menken.
Richard conducted the US national tours of “The Phantom of the Opera”, “La Cage aux Folles”, and “Little House on the Prairie, the Musical” with Melissa Gilbert. He has been guest conductor with the symphony orchestras of St. Louis, Fort Worth, Charlotte, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Omaha, Phoenix, Sacramento, Columbus, the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and the Rochester Philharmonic, among other. He often collaborates with Windborne Music, which presents classic rock-and-roll with orchestra. For many years he was Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Skylight Opera Theatre in Milwaukee, WI. At the Skylight, he conducted more than 60 productions of opera and musical theatre, including several world premieres.
As an actor, Richard has appeared in the play “2 Pianos, 4 Hands” in regional theaters across the US and Canada, including Hartford Stage where the production won the Connecticut Critic’s Circle award. Other acting roles include Malvolio in “Twelfth Night”, Harold in “The Boys in the Band”, and Cosme McMoon in “Souvenir”.
As pianist and arranger he has performed in over 25 countries, appearing in such exotic locales as Lima, Peru and Athens, Greece. Recordings include “Will He Like Me?”, with vocalist Philip Chaffin on the PS Classics label, which won the Bistro Award’s Album of the Year in 2019. Venturing into the world of writing, Richard co-authored music, book and lyrics for the musical “Not Even Remotely”, which had its world premiere at Northern Sky Theatre in Wisconsin in 2021.
Richard Carsey is thrilled to return to the Talcott Mountain Music Festival, where he previously conducted the Hartford Symphony in “A Tribute to Ray Charles, Motown, and Beyond” with Ennis Hall, and “The Music of Queen” in 2017.