Richie Barshay

Richie Barshay is an internationally acclaimed percussionist and music educator, equally at home playing Carnegie Hall and finding new sounds in kitchen cabinets. From his work with Herbie Hancock in the 2000s, to tours and recordings with Chick Corea, Esperanza Spalding, The Klezmatics, Fred Hersch, and Kenny Werner, he's been dubbed “a major innovator who also knows how to have fun,” by The Guardian (UK). His studio and performing work also includes Natalie Merchant, Bobby McFerrin, Joe Lovano, Lee Konitz, Donald Harrison, Lionel Loueke, Julian Lage, the Curtis Brothers, Joey Weisenberg, Gabriel Kahane, Pete Seeger, and the Tony Award winning musical The Band’s Visit on Broadway and national tour. 

Since 2004 he’s traveled across 5 continents teaching and performing as an American Musical Envoy with the U.S. State Department, and can be heard on over 120 released recordings including two self-produced albums: Sanctuary, featuring Chick Corea (2014) and Homework, featuring Herbie Hancock (2004). 

A graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, he is also an AmSAT certified Alexander Technique teacher, helping performing artists and everyone to regain more body-mind coordination and ease of movement.  When he’s not touring, he is based in Northampton, Massachusetts where he teaches in Jazz and African American Music Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.