About

Jacob Richter (b. 2002) is a composer and pianist from the San Francisco Bay Area. He strives to write music that is approachable, yet deeply layered and innovative – music that takes on greater meaning through its intricacies in thematic development, counterpoint, and structure. His music favors rich lyricism, evocative harmony, and driving rhythms, and is alternately imbued with emotional intensity or lighthearted humor.

Jacob has been composing music ever since he can remember, creating a diverse body of work that includes concert compositions, musical theater works, and electronic music. His Prelude and Toccata for orchestra and mini-opera Apple a Day (libretto by John de los Santos) were premiered at the 2023 Mostly Modern Festival. Several of his works have received their premieres at Oberlin Conservatory, including Together, a climate change anthem for choir, sinfonietta, and rock band commissioned by the school’s Now Chorale; Snickerdoodles (Serves 24), which sets a cookie recipe to music; and Crosstunes, in which the performers “solve” a crossword puzzle by playing the answers as sequences of musical notes. This past February, he performed his solo piano piece Dreams at Oberlin’s Danenberg Honors Recital. Additionally, Jacob’s works have been recorded by well-known ensembles such as the Friction Quartet (Exploration) and the Unheard-of//Ensemble (Dawn Variations).

Jacob and fellow Oberlin students Jake Berran and Joey Birdsong created a two-act science fiction musical, All in Your Mind, which explores what it means to be human. In 2024, Jacob co-music directed and conducted the premiere production of All in Your Mind with the Oberlin Student Theater Association. He also orchestrated and music directed Phin Samdperil’s The World is Only Magic, which was produced by the Oberlin Musical Theater Association in 2023.

As a pianist, Jacob has performed under the baton of Tim Weiss in the Oberlin Sinfonietta and Contemporary Music Ensemble. He has played in numerous recitals and musicals at Oberlin and services at Congregation Beth Am.

Jacob is pursuing a B.M. in composition and a B.A. in mathematics and computer science at Oberlin College and Conservatory. He is the recipient of the 2025 Walter E. Aschaffenburg Prize for outstanding music composition and is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda and Phi Beta Kappa. Jacob is currently studying composition with Michael Frazier, and has previously studied with Stephen Hartke, Jesse Jones, Jihyun Kim, Elizabeth Ogonek, and Eric Weg. In fall 2025, Jacob will begin pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Musical Theater Writing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

When not composing or performing music, Jacob can often be found speedrunning video games, playing pool, biking, and designing board games.