Bio -

Rich Dart has performed with over one hundred performing groups and ensembles including both the Meriden and Wallingford Symphonies of CT, where he has served as principle percussionist, the Waterbury Symphony, the Greater Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra, the Greenwich Symphony Orchestra and others.  He performs regularly with groups such as  The Jim Shepley Band, Greg Piccolo and Heavy Juice, Giorgio and the Electric Love Cannolies, the Russ Becker Quartet and Creamed Corn and has appeared on stage with many performers including beatnik legend, David Amram,  jazz great, Lionel Hampton and Conan O’Brian’s famed trumpet player, Mark “the loveman” Pender. 

      In 1993 Rich helped form The Maggies, an alternative pop group that quickly became a favorite of the new music scene in New England and New York. They released three albums on their own label and had a top ten college radio hit as well as a hit in the California underground music scene.  For the years 1998, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006,  Rich  served as the musical director for the annual musical at Westbrook High School in Westbrook, Connecticut.  Rich is also very active as a recording artist. In addition to his solo albums (CREATE – A – SONG, An Evening With Rich Dart and Friends, Anne Donohue and Rich Dart) he has appeared on numerous CDs as a sideman to such groups as Cats Like Angels, Jack Caldwell, SANE, Creamed Corn, Minor Four and Danger Spoon. Rich's second recorded installment of CREATE - A - SONG was released this past June.  In 2005, Rich received critical acclaim when he portrayed the role of The Musical Merchant in Yale Rep's production of William Shakespeare's "The Comedy of Errors".  In addition to performing and recording, he teaches both percussion and piano lessons out of his home studio .  

     Rich started studying percussion through the local school system in Clinton, Connecticut and then later with percussion master Ernest Centoscudi. In 1989, Rich entered the music program at Keene State College in New Hampshire. While there, he quickly became an active member of the Music Department, studying percussion under William Hanley and John Kelley, and composition under Dr. Huebert C. Bird. In addition to his studies, Rich helped form the Brickyard Mallet Ensemble and originated the Keene State College Pep Band. He has continued to study percussion under the likes of David Smith and world-renowned marimbist, Nancy Zeltsman.

     Rich has premiered many new compositions for solo percussion from composers including Luca Vanneschi, Terry Winter Owens and Paul Lassagnie.

In October, 2006, Rich will accompany the national tour of the revival of Stephen Schwartz's "Pippin".