Richard Blackford

Richard Blackford (born 13 January 1954 in London) is an English composer.

Richard Blackford studied composition with John Lambert at the Royal College of Music and conducting with Norman Del Mar. He spent a number of years as Hans Werner Henze's assistant in Italy, where he received his first commissions while immersed in the European avant-garde. He returned to London in 1977 to turn his sights to the dramatic potential of music, combining teaching at LAMDA with commissions for theatre scores along with concert commissions. After becoming first Composer in Residence at Balliol College Oxford he was commissioned to write the opera Metamorphoses for the Centenary of the Royal College of Music. Further collaborations with Ted Hughes and Tony Harrison led to international film and theatre projects, including The Prince's Play and Fram at the Royal National Theatre. In all he has composed four operas, two musicals, much concert music and the scores to over two hundred films. The mid-1990s saw a renewed focus on lyrical and eloquent works for the concert hall, notably Mirror of Perfection and Voices of Exile, both subjects of television documentaries. 2011 saw the premiere of Not In Our Time, a 55-minute choral and orchestral work commissioned to mark the Centenary of the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus and for performance on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. It was subsequently performed in Chicago and Bremen to standing ovations. In 2014 Richard Blackford collaborated with wild soundscape recordist [Bernie Krause] to compose The Great Animal Orchestra Symphony. The work combines the traditional sounds of the orchestra with recordings of Gibbons, Humpback Whales, Pacific Tree Frogs, Mountain Gorillas, Beavers and the Musician Wren. The piece was premiered on the 12 July 2014 at the Cheltenham Festival with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Martyn Brabbins, then given at the Aberystwyth MusicFest and Birmingham Town Hall by the LSSO. Nimbus Records and Nimbus Music Publishing released the CD and score respectively.

Richard Blackford is President of the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus and is a Trustee of Music For Youth (MFY). He is published by Novello and Nimbus Publishing.

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