Brooklyn based pianist and composer Richard Sears has performed with the Billy Hart Quartet (ft. Mark Turner and Ben Street), the Muhal Richard Abrams Orchestra, Ravi Coltrane, Ralph Alessi, Eric Revis, Andrew Cyrille, Joshua Redman and other jazz artists.

In 2018, Sears was commissioned by The Shed (NYC) to create “Should I Lose You”, a concerto for improvised piano and electronic score, conceived in collaboration with composer and sound artist Ethan Braun. “Should I Lose You” premiered in 2019 for The Shed’s inaugural Open Call program. The performance included video by filmmaker Clara Cullen, and was staged by architect and designer, Yael Ginosaur.

Sears’s 2016 release Altadena features the legendary drummer Albert “Tootie” Heath performing with his sextet. The album earned 4 stars in DownBeat Magazine, and was named “one of the best releases of 2016” by AllAboutJazz.com. Altadena was commissioned by the Los Angeles Jazz Society (2013), with additional support from the Aaron Copland Recording Fund (2015).

In 2020, Sears released Disquiet, an album of composed vignettes and improvisations realized for the Una Corda, a piano-like instrument designed by David Klavins and Niels Frahm. Disquiet is the first and only recording to feature a Una Corda in the jazz trio setting.

Sears is both a current grantee of the American Composers Forum, and current resident at the Cité International des Arts in Paris, France.