Richard Barnard

After achieving a first-class music degree from the University of Birmingham, Richard studied composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Now based in Bristol, Richard has worked as a composer, workshop leader, saxophonist, conductor and tutor for over eight years. He regularly leads education projects with many of the major orchestras and opera companies in the UK, including Welsh National Opera, Opera North, Manchester Camerata, London Sinfonietta, The Philharmonia and Music Theatre Wales. He teaches on the music course at SWADA and is a guest composition lecturer at the University of Bristol.

As a composer, recent commissions include a choral piece to mark the reopening of the Colston Hall, a 70-minute opera for Welsh National Opera Max and a choral song for Opera North. His music has received national and international performances by musicians including BBC Singers, Juice, Kungsbacka Trio, Mikhail Karikis, Delta Saxophone Quartet, Christian Forshaw and Bristol Cathedral Choir. He is the co-founder and curator of Elektrostatic, an acclaimed series of new music events at the Colston Hall with the Emerald Ensemble. Richard has written and recorded scores for feature-length and short films and works on innovative collaborative projects with film-makers, writers and artists.