Originally from Wilmette, IL, north of Chicago, Richard Bruner has been a musician his whole life. He started violin lessons at age 3, and piano lessons at 6. He has added many other instruments over the years. He wrote his first tune at age 8 and had his first premiere in 8th grade when members of his Jr. High orchestra performed his String Quartet No. 1 in A minor. Richard attended New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL, playing in the acclaimed New Trier Symphony Orchestra, as well as studying music theory (among other things!). He also earned Eagle Scout through the Boy Scouts of America, leading a 12-piece ensemble of fellow scouts and friends in two concerts mostly of music he composed or arranged at Chicago-area retirement homes for his service project.

Richard attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, majoring in film scoring with a minor in acoustics and electronics. He chose violin for his principal instrument, playing in the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra as well as over 60 student film scoring recording sessions in addition to conducting his own. He graduated summa cum laude in 2012. 

After graduating from Berklee, Richard moved out to Los Angeles, CA, where he currently lives pursuing a career in music for media and music in general. He has worked as a music library manager, having helped run operations at the Chicago Music Library in Encino, CA for several years ending as its Director of Operations and then serving as the Chief Operating Officer for KQM Entertainment Group, organizing the launch of their production music library, KQM Production Music.

Richard earned his Master of Music degree in composition in 2025, graduating with distinction from California State University, Northridge. He studied with Dr. Patrick O’Malley and Dr. Liviu Marinescu, ultimately producing his recital Between Worlds: Multi-Genreism in Music, leading a septet of strings and piano. While there, he also worked as a department music theory / musicianship tutor for the undergraduate students.

Richard now offers composition lessons, music theory / musicianship tutoring, and music production training, both in person in Los Angeles (particularly the San Fernando Valley), and online. See the Teaching page for more information.

He composes orchestral and chamber music as well as electronic music and folk music arrangements. His orchestral works have been premiered by the Symphony of the Verdugos and the Pasadena Community Orchestra. He also works as a freelance music preparation specialist for both film score recording sessions and concert music, as well as lead sheet transcription. 

Richard is an active performer, playing regularly with the Symphony of the Verdugos and San Fernando Valley Symphony Orchestra (at both of which he is principal viola), the Topanga Symphony Orchestra, and the Crown City Symphony, along with freelance concerts and recording sessions around town. He has also performed on viola with the Pasadena Community Orchestra and the Civic Orchestra of Los Angeles as well as the CSUN Symphony Orchestra while working on his master’s degree.

In addition to his classical performances, he also plays fiddle and tin whistles with the Scottish Fiddlers of Los Angeles, and his tunes have placed multiple times in the national Scottish F.I.R.E. composition competition. See the Tunebook page for more information. Richard’s tunes and arrangements have been performed by the Scottish Fiddlers of Los Angeles, and he is an associate director of the group for the 2025-2026 season.

You can find and purchase Richard’s sheet music at Scoreexchange.com, and audio demos (both live and synthesized) at his SoundCloud profile as well as on this website. Please get in touch if you want to talk to Richard about anything!

Find Richard’s resume here: Full (3-page), Condensed (1-page)

Richard has been writing up his personal musical philosophy under the name “Capital-M Music”, a project which has grown to include several sub-components over the past several years. Find the original paper here, and all the writing under the Teaching/Writing tab above.