Mouji Lai 工作室

Born and raised in Niagara Falls, New York, Richard often listened to symphonies on record and in concert as a youngster. His family got him a piano and he began lessons at age seven which continued through high school, although he additionally studied violin for a year and clarinet for five years. As a teenager Richard also played organ at various churches, was the music counselor at a summer camp in Canada, and joined a rock band with future jazz recording artists Thom Rotella and Bobby Previte. Shulman graduated from the University of Rochester with a double-major Bachelor's degree in music (piano performance) and psychology while continuing to perform with Previte in the jazz-fusion band Thermopylae. Shulman's early musical influences were Beethoven, Bach and Chopin; then in high school it was The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix; and on into college it switched to Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Paul Winter, Oscar Peterson and Ray Charles followed a few years later by Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny, and Chick Corea.

Shulman continued his studies in jazz with Frank Foster while getting his Masters Degree in musical composition at the State University of New York at Buffalo. During those years he played onstage in concert with such jazz stalwarts as Thad Jones, Eddie Gomez, Pepper Adams, Jerry Dodgion, Freddie Hubbard and Al Harewood, and recorded his first jazz album, Wonder.

According to Shulman, "For the past 19 years, album-by-album I have been attempting to create music which will encourage a harmonious society envisioned by many spiritual traditions, forward thinkers and ordinary people." This journey has resulted in 18 of his own albums as well as other recordings for which he has provided the music. Trained in the classical field, Shulman first worked as a rock musician and then a jazz pianist before turning to music for healing and inspiration.

Shulman began moving beyond the jazz scene in New York City when he recorded his first extemporaneous solo piano album, World Peace, on the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima (he performed at a peace meeting the same day). This led Shulman into the world of new age music. Richard was then asked by a healing practitioner to play for his clients which was the beginning of Shulman's practice of creating special "Musical Soul Portrait" recordings for individuals, couples and groups (he has done more than 600 so far). Shulman also has released some of this type of music on the albums A Higher Dimension, Light Music, Music for Magnified Healing, First Rites and Sacred Music for Healing Hands Volumes 1 & 2.

Shulman's first two album releases with national marketing were Light from Assisi and Transformation at Assisi, inspired by spiritual pilgrimages to the town of Assisi in Italy where St. Francis lived. Richard also laid more groundwork for Camelot Reawakened with a pair of recordings -- Ascension Harmonics and the partially-orchestral Keeper of the Holy Grail -- with "spiritual attunements" by Samuel Welsh. "Our research for Holy Grail led me to the larger picture of Camelot," says Shulman, who also took a trip to Glastonbury, England in 1995 to study the area. "I feel that the energies of Camelot still reside in places like the Abbey there and the Michael Tor, the sacred hill which is pictured on the cover of Camelot Reawakened."

In 1996, Richard was preparing to do a "Musical Soul Portrait" for a woman who had recently returned from exploring the British Isles and tracing Arthur's journeys, although she hadn't told Shulman about that. When he closed his eyes to begin, he had a vision of a sword coming down from heaven. He told her what he had seen, and she said, "I have one word for you: Camelot." The music Richard created that day was the beginning of Camelot Reawakened. Over the next few years, he received other melodies about Camelot while doing soul portraits, and during the recording of his First Rites and Music to Walk the Labyrinth albums. "There were many threads that came slowly together to form the entire web. Synchronicities happened throughout the project. It was a spiritual adventure." After several years of arranging the orchestration for each movement of the Camelot piece, it was unveiled to the world in concert in January 2002, with members of the Asheville Symphony Orchestra conducted by Robert Hart Baker. It was recorded that day in front of the audience with additional recording the following day behind closed doors. The album contains liner notes about the project and an explanation of each movement which takes the listener from "The Dream" and "A Celebration" to "Prayer" and "The Dream Fulfilled." A DVD/video of the project was released in June of 2005.

"The possibilities for humanity have blossomed periodically through the ages, and when Camelot flourished, people dared to live a dream. I believe now is the time to begin opening ourselves again to living in harmony with one another, and in harmony with the entire universe, by each of us recognizing our dream within and fulfilling that vision as our contribution to the whole."