Richard Ayres (born 29 October 1965) is a British composer and music teacher.

Biography

Born in Cornwall, England, Richard Ayres followed

Morton Feldman Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminacy in music, a development associated with the experimental New York School o ...

's classes at the Darmstadt and Dartington summer schools. He studied

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

, and

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

Huddersfield Polytechnic The University of Huddersfield is a public research university located in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It has been a University since 1992, but has its origins in a series of institutions dating back to the 19th century. It has made te ...

until 1989, graduating with distinction in 1989. Since September 1989, Ayres has lived and worked in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. He studied postgraduate composition course at the

Royal Conservatory of The Hague The Royal Conservatoire (, KC) is a conservatoire in The Hague, providing higher education in music and dance. The conservatoire was founded by King William I in 1826, making it the oldest conservatoire in the Netherlands. Since September 2021, t ...

, studying with

Louis Andriessen Louis Joseph Andriessen (; 6 June 1939 – 1 July 2021) was a Dutch composer, pianist and academic teacher. Considered the most influential Dutch composer of his generation, he was a central proponent of The Hague school of composition. Although ...

, and graduating in 1992. From 1990 Richard Ayres has worked as composer receiving performances from among others the

ASKO Ensemble Asko or ASKO may refer to: * Asko (name), a male given name common in Finland and Estonia * Askø, a Danish island * Asko Cylinda or Asko Appliances AB, a Swedish company producing household appliances * AskoSchönberg, a Dutch chamber orchestra * ...

, the Schönberg Ensemble, Ives Ensemble,

Orkest de Volharding Orkest de Volharding (perseverance orchestra) is a Dutch music ensemble, founded in 1972 by Louis Andriessen and saxophonist Willem Breuker Willem Breuker (4 November 1944 – 23 July 2010) was a Dutch bandleader, composer, arranger, saxophonis ...

, Maarten Altena Ensemble, The Netherlands Ballet Orchestra,

Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra The Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra (NRSO) was a Dutch radio orchestra. It was founded in 1985 after a merger of the Promenade Orchestra and the Radio Chamber Orchestra (Omroep Orkest). In 2005, the NRSO was disbanded, and its functions were ...

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. It is the resident orchestra at Symphony Hall, Birmingham in Birmingham, which has been its principal performance venue since 1991. Its adminis ...

Apartment House An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement ( Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) th ...

London Sinfonietta The London Sinfonietta is an English contemporary chamber music, chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble has headquarters at Kings Place and is Resident Orchestra at the Southbank Centre. Since its inaugural concert ...

, Klangforum Wien, MusikFabrik, Continuum (Canada) as well as writing for ensembles with more unusual instrumentations formed for specific projects. Ayres received the

Gaudeamus International Composers Award The Gaudeamus International Composers Award is made by the Gaudeamus Foundation. The prize is awarded yearly, to a young composer at Dutch music concert, ''Gaudeamus Muziekweek''. The Gaudeamus Foundation had held an annual music week of Dutch ...

for composition in 1994. His piece No. 31 (for trumpet and ensemble) received a recommendation at the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Rostrum of Composers in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1999. He received the

Matthijs Vermeulen Award The Matthijs Vermeulen Award is the most important Dutch composition prize. It was named after the Dutch composer Matthijs Vermeulen (1888–1967). During the years 1972 through 2004, the prize was awarded annually by the Amsterdam Foundation f ...

in 2003. He was Featured Composer at the Huddersfield Festival in 2003 and his music has been heard at the

Aldeburgh Festival The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the town of Aldeburgh, Suffolk and is centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall. History of the Aldeburgh Festi ...

: his first opera, The Cricket Recovers was premiered there in 2005. It has since had new productions in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

, Weimar and Braunschweig. His second opera is ''Peter Pan'' (

Staatsoper Stuttgart The Staatsoper Stuttgart (Stuttgart State Opera) is a German opera company based in Stuttgart, the capital of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The Staatsorchester Stuttgart serves as its resident orchestra. History Performances of operas, ballet an ...

Komische Oper Berlin The Komische Oper Berlin is a German opera company based in Berlin. The company produces operas, operettas and musicals. The opera house is located on Behrenstraße, near Unter den Linden. Since 2004, the Komische Oper Berlin, along with the Be ...

Welsh National Opera Welsh National Opera (WNO) () is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales. WNO gave its first performances in 1946. The company began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its early days, the ...

and

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

, 2015). In the orchestral arena his No. 37b for orchestra was premiered at the Donaueschingen Musiktage by the SWR Sinfonieorchester Freiburg and Baden-Baden and has since been taken up by the

Frankfurt Radio Symphony The Frankfurt Radio Symphony () is the radio orchestra of Hessischer Rundfunk, the public broadcasting network of the German state of Hesse. Venues are Alte Oper and hr-Sendesaal. Music director is the French conductor Alain Altinoglu. Chi ...

and the

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBC SSO) is a Scottish broadcasting symphony orchestra based in Glasgow. One of five full-time orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), it is the oldest full-time professional rad ...

. No. 40 NONcerto for oboe and chamber orchestra was premiered by Baart Schneemann and the Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra in 2006. 2008 saw the premiere of No. 42 In the Alps for soprano and ensemble which was premiered and toured throughout the

Barbara Hannigan Barbara Hannigan (born 8 May 1971) is a Canadian soprano and conductor, known for her performances of contemporary classical music. Education Hannigan's initial musical education came from music teachers in her hometown of Waverley, Nova Sco ...

and the

Netherlands Wind Ensemble The Netherlands Wind Ensemble () is a wind ensemble composed of musicians from major Dutch symphony orchestras. The NBE performs concert series at Amsterdam’s major venues: the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Concertgebouw, Paradiso and the new Muzi ...

. He also wrote No. 43 Glorious, a work for chamber ensemble and film – a collaboration with film-maker

Guy Maddin Guy Maddin (born February 28, 1956) is a Canadian screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer, film editor and installation artist. He is known for his fascination with lost Silent film, Silent-era films and for incorporating their aestheti ...

for the SHIFT Festival in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. His piece No. 52 (''Three pieces about Ludwig van Beethoven: dreaming, hearing loss and saying goodbye'') was given its world premiere at the

BBC Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

on 20 September 2020 at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, performed by the

Aurora Orchestra Aurora Orchestra is a British chamber orchestra, co-founded in 2004 by conductors Nicholas Collon and Robin Ticciati. The orchestra is based in London, where it is Resident Orchestra at Southbank Centre and Resident Ensemble at Kings Place. The ...

conducted by

Nicholas Collon Nicholas Collon (born 7 February 1983 in London) is a British conductor. Biography A viola player, organist and pianist by training, Collon played viola in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain (NYOGB). He studied at Eton and was an org ...

. That and the piece's second performance were given five-star reviews by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' and ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' who, respectively, described the piece as "startlingly joyous" and "deeply moving... gnificent". In January 2004, Ayres was appointed as teacher of composition at the

. He remained in his position here until 2006 and now teaches at the Amsterdam Conservatoire.

Selected works

*No. 8 Piano (solo) 1991 *No. 24 (NONcerto for alto trombone) 1995 *No. 31 (NONcerto for trumpet) 1999 *No. 30 (NONcerto for orchestra, cello and high soprano) 2003 *No. 30a "Schnell aber nicht immer" *No. 33 a-b-c (Valentine Tregashian COnsiders...) 2001 *No. 36 (NONcerto for horn) 2002 *No. 34b (Two pieces for cello and ensemble) 2003 *No. 39 The Cricket Recovers 2005 *No. 37b for Orchestra 2006 *No. 40 (NONcerto for oboe)2006 *No. 41 (Five Memos for Eva) 2007 *No. 42 (In the Alps- an animated concert) 2008 *No. 43 (Glorious) 2008 *No. 47 (Peter Pan) 2015 *No. 48 (Night Studio) 2015 *No. 52 (''Three pieces about Ludwig van Beethoven: dreaming, hearing loss and saying goodbye'') 2020

References

External links

Biography, Chronology, Gallery, Performances, News, Discography, Sample Pages, Works
(

Schott Music Schott Music () is one of the oldest German music publishers. It is also one of the largest music publishing houses in Europe, and is the second-oldest music publisher after Breitkopf & Härtel. The company headquarters of Schott Music were foun ...

)
Richard Ayres' Website

Richard Ayres' Myspace Page

Richard Ayres' Page on the London Sinfonietta Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayres, Richard 1965 births English opera composers Gaudeamus Composition Competition prize-winners Living people British male opera composers Pupils of Louis Andriessen Royal Conservatory of The Hague alumni