Richard Festinger's music has been performed in the United States, Europe and Asia.  His works have been commissioned by Works and Process at the Guggenheim Museum, Parnassus, Earplay, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Alexander String Quartet, the Laurel Trio, the Music Teachers' National Association, The University of California, the Left Coast Ensemble,  the City Winds, and Alter-Ego.  His music has also been performed by Griffin, Phantom Arts, New Millennium, Speculum Musicae, the Sun String Quartet, Composers Inc., the Seoul Electroacoustic Music Festival, the Berkeley and Riverside Symphonies, the Orchestra da Camera Italiana G.F. Ghedini, the Ensemble Italiano per la Musica Contemporanea, Ensemble Kaleidacollage, sopranos Jane Manning and Karol Bennett, and the Boston Chamber Ensemble.  He has received awards from the Jerome Foundation, the Fromm Foundation at Harvard University, the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress, and the Barlow and Camargo Foundations.  In 1993 he received the Walter Hinrichsen Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

            Mr. Festinger studied composition and conducting at the University of California in Berkeley under Andrew Imbrie, and earned a Ph.D. degree in composition in 1983.  Before turning to composing, he led his own groups as a jazz performer.  In 1978-80 he studied in Paris as recipient of the George Ladd Prize.  Since 1985 he has been a research affiliate of Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics.  He is a founder and director of Earplay, a nationally acclaimed contemporary music ensemble based in San Francisco.  He is also the founder and director of the Composition Workshop at the California State University's Summer Arts Festival in Long Beach, California.  He has taught at the University of California and Dartmouth College, and is currently a member of the composition faculty at San Francisco State University.  His music is published by C.F. Peters Corporation and Fallen Leaf Press, and his works have been recorded for the Centaur, CRI and CRS labels.