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Composer Abigail Richardson's music has been broadcast in 35 countries. She has had pieces commissioned by Radio France, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Victoria Symphony, Tapestry New Opera, New Music Concerts, Theatre Direct, Talisker Players, the Southern Ontario Chamber Music Institute, and The Festival Winds. Her music has been played at the Festival Présences of Paris, Winnipeg New Music Festival, Newfoundland Sound Symposium, Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Festival of the Sound, and Niagara Chamber Music Festival. She and her music have often been featured on CBC National Radio. She won the first Karen Kieser Prize for Canadian music, the Canadian Music Centre Prarie Region award, and—most significantly—one of her works won the top prize in the under-30 category at the prestigious International Rostrum of Composers in Paris. She is currently Affiliate Composer with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Richardson was born in England and moved to Canada as a six-year-old child. At that time she was profoundly deaf. Although English doctors had pronounced her deafness incurable, the dry climate of Calgary restored her hearing within months. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Music from the University of Calgary and a Masters and Doctorate of Music from the University of Toronto.