Richard (Dick) Hensold is a musician specializing in early music; traditional music of Scotland, Ireland and Northumberland; Nordic folk music; and Cambodian traditional music. He performs on the Northumbrian smallpipes, Swedish pipes (säckpipa), Medieval great-pipes, Highland pipes, recorder, seljefløyte (Norwegian willow flute), low whistle and traditional Cambodian reed instruments. He is currently the foremost Northumbrian smallpiper in North America, has performed in both Scotland and England, and has taught Northumbrian smallpipes at workshops in England, Scotland, Japan, Canada, and across the United States (1997-present).  He has released numerous CDs as a member of the groups Piper’s Crow, Way Up North, The New International Trio, the Lyra Baroque orchestra, and with Ruth MacKenzie’s Kalevala.  His solo Northumbrian smallpipes CD Big Music for Northumbrian Smallpipes was released in 2007, and he currently tours with guitarist and vocalist Patsy O’Brien, from County Cork.

A recorder and early music major at Oberlin Conservatory, he has appeared as recorder soloist with the Twin Cities‑based baroque orchestra Lyra Concert, and has also appeared with the Chicago Early Music Consort, Ex Machina, Circle of Sound, and the Minnesota Orchestra.  His research interest in early Scottish music resulted in a lecture and concert appearance at the 1997 Lowland and Border Piper’s Society collogue in Peebles, Scotland.  The proceedings of this conference, along with Hensold’s two other related papers, were published as Out of the Flames in 2004. He is a 2006 Bush Artist Fellow.