Jaden Richeson ‘20, a music and communication double major, was awarded Denison’s President’s Medal, the college’s highest student honor.
Denison annually recognizes graduating seniors who have demonstrated exemplary leadership and service to the University through their involvement in student organizations, in co-curricular activities, on Denison’s staff, and as athletes and scholars.
Richeson’s President’s Medal Citation:
Jaden, for your senior project, you sought a challenge - composing a large-scale work for wind ensemble — far beyond the scope of most senior projects. The final project, a piece entitled “Weight,” is a work that your nominators call “one of the most mature works we’ve seen from a student composer at the undergraduate level.”
Jaden, you also collaborated with the Theatre Department to create thirty short musical pieces to accompany scenes and scene changes, along with regular contributions to the Tutti Festival and composing the score for Denison’s recent production of “Sense and Sensibility.” The Doobie has described your music as creating “sound loops that layer in rich reverb and dense chordage by tapping into deep magicks of old to take you to a lo-fi 8-bit dreamworld full of chill beats to study and relax,” which is high praise indeed.
As an artist, you’ve been willing to explore identity and authenticity in your music. In your academic work, faculty speak of your “pure intellectual firepower and intellectual curiosity,” and you’ve found ways to draw on your own experience to make art that has been provocative and profound. As a Phi Beta Kappa scholar, an artist, and a campus leader, you have made Denison a better place.
