Rich Stubbings

Rich Stubbings is an experienced composer and musical director for theatre and television. With a strong background in composition, arrangement and recording he has worked with a range of artists, and as a bandleader, musical director and composer for numerous live ensembles. 

Formally trained in composition at Dartington (BA) and Bristol (MA), with 15 years of performing internationally as a live and studio musician, (including hip-hop, jazz, world, dance, folk, rock and pop), he has worked on numerous theatrical collaborations over the last 20 years as a composer/musician. 

As Music Director with ‘Actiontrack Performance Company’, he has considerable experience of music making within a local community/education context, working with schools, placements, youth groups, community arts pieces and disability and integration projects, encouraging positive experiences of creating and performing music, in conjunction with drama, design and dance, and other participatory art forms. Though most of the work is UK-based, he has worked on projects with the company in San Francisco, Toulouse and Dublin.

He has regularly led workshops - for both groups and individuals - in singing, songwriting and band writing/performance that often involves working in a studio to record material for a CD. He draws on his performance skills to coach instrumental players, encouraging experimentation and personal expression. 

Recent projects have involved arranging and leading a samba drumming group in a street performance; a school composition and orchestration project that resulted in a score for orchestra and prepared sound using 5.1 surround; and a series of vocal workshops with visiting international artists.

He performs and writes on piano, keyboards (accordion, Hammond Organ, synths), guitars (Spanish, electric and bass), flutes (western transverse and Asian bamboo flutes) and vocals, and has substantial experience with music technology and writing and recording in the studio. 

Rich has also spent the last 10 years writing for a range of film and television productions, ranging from drama and short films (including animations) to documentaries for BBC, Channel 5, Discovery, Animal Planet and other independent film makers. Other recent projects include the writing of an orchestral score for a professional production of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’.

Recently Rich has completed a Primary PGCE and is currently working on a practice-based Music Ed MA at Edge Hill University.