Richard Blackford
Encyclopedia
Richard Blackford is an English
composer
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
Biography
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 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 sees 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. Publisher Novello & CompanyCareer highlights
- 1974 - Leverhulme Scholarship to study in Rome with Henze; wins Mendelssohn ScholarshipMendelssohn ScholarshipThe Mendelssohn Scholarship refers to two scholarships awarded in Germany and in the United Kingdom. Both commemorate the composer, Felix Mendelssohn, and are awarded to promising young musicians to enable them to continue their development.-History:...
and Tagore Gold Medal. - 1990 - premiere of the musical King, with lyrics by Maya Angelou, at London’s Piccadilly Theatre.
- 1990-5 - Director of Music at the Royal Ballet SchoolRoyal Ballet SchoolThe Royal Ballet School is one of the most famous classical ballet schools in the world and is the associate school of the Royal Ballet, a leading international ballet company based at the Royal Opera House in London...
where he wrote ballet Plea to Autumn performed at the Royal Opera HouseRoyal Opera HouseThe Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
. - 2000 - Emmy AwardEmmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
nomination for Outstanding Achievement In Music for Millennium (CNN). - 2007 - Composer in Residence to Brno Philharmonic. Premiere of Violin Concerto.
- 2011 - Premiere of Not In Our Time, under auspices of Cheltenham Festival, with The Bournemouth Symphony Chorus, The Bournemouth Symphony Youth Chorus and The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
Key works
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1978; soloists,children’s and adult choruses, orchestra)
- Mirror of Perfection (1996; soprano, baritone,chorus, orchestra))
- """Not In Our Time"""(2011; tenor and baritone soloists, chorus, children's chorus and orchestra)
- """Violin Concerto (2007)
- """Clarinet Quintet (2009)
- The Ride of the Valkyries (2003; eight pianos,percussion)
- Voices of Exile (2001, rev.2004; soloists,children’s and adult choruses, orchestra)
- Rowing in Eden (2004; soprano, piano)
- Barbara Wood - Das Haus Der Harmonie (2005; GermanGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
-SingaporeSingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
movie soundtrack) - The Shell SeekersThe Shell Seekers (mini-series)The Shell Seekers is a 2006 mini-series starring Academy Award-winners, Vanessa Redgrave and Maximilian Schell. The British-German co-production was directed by Piers Haggard. It is an adaptation of Rosamunde Pilcher's 1987 novel-of-the-same-name and premiered on Germany's ZDF on December 25th,...
(2006)
Selected recordings
- Mirror of Perfection - Sony Classical SK60285
- "Voices of Exile" - Quartz QTZ 2018
- On Another’s Sorrow - Signum Classics SIGCD059
- Voices of Exile - Quartz Records