Richard Zarou, faculty member of Bard High School Early College in Baltimore, is a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music. His education includes Doctoral and Master’s degrees in composition from Florida State University and a Bachelor’s degree in composition from Shenandoah University. His works have been performed at festivals such as Electronic Music Midwest, The Society of Composers, Inc. National Conference, The Imagine2 Electro-Acoustic Festival, The College Music Society National Conference and international in the Czech Republic and at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in the United Kingdom. His awards include the New Music @ East Carolina University Competition in 2002 for Fragile Wraths and again in 2003 for Upon a Child. A lullaby for women’s chorus, Upon a Child has been performed frequently since its premiere at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC in 2002. In 2005, The Smell of Wet Dogs After a Summertime Rain, for bass trombone and CD, was commissioned by Aaron Misenheimer who performed the composition at thirteen universities and recorded the piece as the title work for a commercial CD. Zarou has also composed the music for 12 films including the feature-length documentary Breaking the Silence: Torture Survivors Speak Out.
