Richard Blackford

English composer Richard Blackford was born in London on 13 January 1954. He studied composition at the Royal College of Music with John Lambert, and conducting with Norman Del Mar. He was awarded a Leverhulme Scholarship in 1974 to study with Hans Werner Henze in Rome, and spent several years in Rome as Henze's assistant, returning to London in 1977.

He taught at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) in Hammersmith, and received commissions for theatre and concert works. Later he was Bailliol College Oxford's first composer in residence, and was commissioned to write his first opera, Metamorphoses, for the centenary of the Royal College of Music.

His output includes four operas, two musicals, concert music and more than two hundred film scores. There are various recordings of his music, mostly on the Nimbus label.

 

A selection of articles about Richard Blackford

Classical music news. February 2024 Newsletter and other news - Our February 2024 PDF newsletter has just been published, and amongst other items of news, we also feature a conversation between Tamami Honma and Barry Cooper

Classical music news - Previews - Looking ahead to events during the 2023/24 season

CD Spotlight. A De-orchestration? - Keith Bramich listens to Richard Blackford's new version of Verdi's Messa da Requiem. '... Richard Blackford is a respected and experienced composer, and this is no mere thinning of the texture ...'

CD Spotlight. Comparatively Tame - Richard Blackford's Great Animal Orchestra, heard by Robert Anderson. 'I can recommend the CD only to the very young at heart.'

Ensemble. Cogent Achievements - Peter Maxwell Davies' tenth symphony and other British music, heard by Roderic Dunnett