Richard’s many musical commissions cover a wide range of musical genres. His most recent is a second album of big band tracks for JW Media Music (subsidiary of Josef Weinberger Ltd), following on from the success of his previous album, “Show Time”, tracks from which were used widely on US cable TV and most notably featured on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. As a pianist, his work with the Rich Meehan Trio has been widely acclaimed, including ‘track of the week’ on Jazz FM (‘dinner time jazz show’) for “Prelude” in May 2022. He is an award-winning composer for his film scoring, has written widely for theatre including a score for the Mexican production of Faustaff (2016), and has produced a sizeable body of educational music.

He was born in Nottingham and developed his flair for music at a young age, beginning composition concurrently with learning to write. He started learning piano and violin at the age of 6 and the trombone at the age of 9. His teenage years saw the flourishing of these abilities when he won the Nellie Greenhill prize for his Grade VIII piano, and even performed his own piano concerto with the Nottingham Youth Orchestra at the age of 17.

Richard graduated with a First in Music from Durham University, and subsequently completed an MA in Composition (also Durham). Thereafter, he undertook teacher training at the University of Cambridge. Since 2003, he has worked as a teacher, leading music departments in state and independent schools. Over the course of his school career, he has worked alongside many young people who have gone on to forge successful careers as musicians. 

As a knowledgeable jazz theoretician, Richard performs in groups across the South-East. His work often has a community focus, which has led to such projects as working alongside Danyl Johnson and Reading Bach Choir for the homeless charity, Launchpad, as Director of Music for their carol services.