Rick Bassett is a composer, pianist, arranger and orchestrator in New York City. He is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Music Theatre Workshop, currently writing a new musical with playwright/lyricist Jessica Fleitman. Their musical “Little Miss Shushan: A Musical Megillah” received its world premiere in 2015.
Rick's orchestrations have been performed by Sutton Foster with the New York Pops (Carnegie Hall), the Boston and Cincinnati Pops, National Symphony and Baltimore Symphony orchestras. His orchestrations were also heard in the 2014 holiday concerts by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.
On Broadway, Rick is an orchestrator for “Violet,” as well as “Caroline, or Change” and “Twelfth Night” at Lincoln Center. Rick has also done a number of orchestrations for Broadway Pops, International.
Rick's keyboard programming credits include "Fiddler On The Roof," "Dames At Sea" (Broadway) Pacific Overtures, (Classic Stage), "Big River," "1776" (NY City Center Encores), and Ahrens and Flaherty’s “Little Dancer” (Kennedy Center).
The song "Way, Way Back" written with Christiana Cole (lyrics) was nominated for a 2016 MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs) Award.
He is the composer and musical director for "Burning Up!" a musical comedy movie short and 10-minute musical, written with Pamela Weiler Grayson, and performed at the 2016 NY Sound Bites festival.
In May, 2013, Rick was a Fellow at the John Duffy Composers Institute at the Virginia Arts Festival, Norfolk, VA.
Rick co-produced, composed and orchestrated for the Grammy-nominated CD “Beautiful Star” by The CenturyMen chorus. For television, he has scored numerous network documentaries including the ABC daytime Emmy-nominated “Circle of the Earth.” He has also produced, composed, arranged and orchestrated recordings for several best-selling Silver Burdett/Sony music education textbook series, including “Making Music,” “The Music Connection,” and “Bridges to Asia.”
Rick has taught at Columbia University, Yared School of Music at Addis Ababa University; EECMY School of Jazz Music in Ethiopia; and Kunitachi College of Music in Toyko, Japan.
While living in Ethiopia, he performed in the Ethio-Latin band "Eshee Havana," and co-directed the Motley Singers. Rick wrote the music, book and lyrics to “Hope” a musical comedy set in Uganda, which was performed in Kampala, Uganda in June 2007.
Rick's music has been performed frequently by choirs of the First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York; Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church, Bethesda, MD; Société Chorale de Saint-Lambert, Québec; and many others.
Rick received a Fulbright Grant to study composition and music technology at IRCAM in Paris, and holds degrees from Yale, New England Conservatory, and Columbia University.