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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.
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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.
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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.
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