Clifford Richardson

CLIFFORD RICHARDSON, violinist, began violin studies at age 7 at the Nevada School of the Arts in Las Vegas and was under the tutelage of Shakeh Ghoukasian, Principal Second Violinist of the Las Vegas Philharmonic, for several years. He has also had masterclasses with renowned violin pedagogues such as Alexander Treger, former LA Philharmonic concertmaster and Cyrus Furough, Professor of Violin at Carnegie Mellon University both of whom were students of David Oistrakh, among others.

As an in-demand musician, his career covers a broad spectrum of music which includes solo, chamber, musicals, and orchestral performances. A concerto competition winner with the Henderson Symphony, he was featured as a soloist and performed the Bruch Violin Concerto 1, 1st Mvmt for the symphony's annual Youth Concert Series in 2015. During this time, he also performed as a chamber musician for the UNLV Chamber Choir's performance of Henry Purcell's Ode for Queen Mary's Birthday. Still a developing orchestral musician, he won the coveted privelege of performing as co-concertmaster of the Nevada All-State Orchestra, an audition-only orchestra which selects the best music students from across the state. Clifford also won first prizes at both the Silver State and Bolognini Competitions for solo performance. Outside of the classical avenues, he performed at the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2012 and 2016, sharing the stage with artists such as Little Big Town and Tim McGraw.

In 2024, after a years-long break from music, Clifford returned to the performing arts world with meteoric success. Upon a generous referral to the Tahoe Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (TOCCATA) from his stand partner in the Carson City Symphony, Lee, he was immediately placed as concertmaster for TOCCATA's well-attended 4th of July concert series, and as concertmaster for the sold-out Hot Opera Nights concert featuring Reno Philhamonic musicians after only 5 months since his return to music. From there, he joined as a founding member of the Tahoe Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Maestro James Rawie as concertmaster, performing works such as J. S. Bach's St Matthew Passion, Mozart's Requiem, Handel's Messiah, and others. In addition to orchestral work he is a violinist at St. Luke's Lutheran Church, where he has performed as a volunteer for its modern worship service and other events.

Recognized for his musical talent, Clifford was also recruited to play with the locally-renowned String Beings with violinist Van Vinikow, a former violinist of the Reno Philharmonic for over 40 years. With Van, he has shared the exquisite gift of music with many couples as they got married, with the elderly at senior-care homes, at wine-tastings, and most notably at the 2025 production of Wetern Nevada Musical Theater Company's The Sound of Music, which sold out 5 of the 7 showings.

During his musical hiatus in college, Clifford enjoyed moderate success in cybersecurity while pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno, placing within the top 5 nationally multiple years in a row for the National Cyber League Team Competition as well as top 100 for its individual bracket. This venture in to cybersecurity earned him an internship at Desert Research Institute under the personal guidance of Chief Information Security Officer Brandon Peterson in 2018. Furthermore, in 2019, Clifford finished as a top 100 finalist out of a staggering 13,000 applicants in the national Cyber FastTrack competition, resulting in a unique $25,000 scholarship to supplement his education with cybersecurity knowledge.

Clifford currently plays on a c. 1930 Orfeo Carletti violin, and previously played on a violin made by Jarek Koscielny.