Richard Blackford PhD studied composition with John Lambert at the Royal College of Music and conducting with Norman Del Mar. He was awarded the Mendelssohn Scholarship and the Tagore Gold Medal. He spent a number of years as Hans Werner Henze's assistant in Italy on a Leverhulme scholarship, 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, being nominated for an Emmy Award in 2001 for Outstanding Achievement In Music.
The mid-1990s saw a renewed focus on lyrical and dramatic works for the concert hall, notably Mirror of Perfection and Voices of Exile, both subjects of television documentaries. 2011 saw 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, conducted by Gavin Carr. It was subsequently performed in Chicago and Bremen to standing ovations.
In 2015 Richard was awarded Die Goldene Deutschland for services to music in Germany alongside Plácido Domingo and Diana Damrau. 2017 saw the premiere of his concertante work for violin and orchestra 'Niobe', commissioned by the Czech Philharmonic and recorded with soloist Tamsin Waley-Cohen for Signum Classics. The Czech Philharmonic also recorded Kalon for string quartet and string orchestra, a Cheltenham Festival commission in association with BBC Radio 3 for the 2018 Cheltenham Festival with the BBC NOW conducted by Martyn Brabbins. 2018 also saw the premiere of his string quartet Seven Hokusai Miniatures, commissioned by the Aberystwyth MusicFest for the Solem Quartet. 'Pietà', his third commission from the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus, conducted by Gavin Carr, was premiered in 2019 and won the Ivor Novello Award in the Choral Category 2020.In 2023 he was awarded Best Creator Award for his cantata Babel by Making Music, the National Federation of Music Societies.
Blackford is President of the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus, a Trustee of The Bach Choir and a Trustee of Lyrita Nimbus Arts. He is published by Novello and Nimbus Publishing. In January 2019 he was awarded the Degree of Doctor Of Philosophy by the University of Bristol.
2000 – Emmy Award 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, conducted by Gavin Carr.
2014 – World Premiere of The Great Animal Orchestra Symphony at Cheltenham Festival, wild soundscapes by Bernie Krause, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Martyn Brabbins
2015 – Awarded Die Goldene Deutschland in Cuviliestheater, Munich, for services to music in Germany. Other prizewinners included Placido Domingo and Jonas Kaufmann.
2017 – World Premiere of "Niobe" a Czech Philharmonic commission, performed by Tamsin Waley-Cohen (solo violin) and Ben Gernon (conductor)
2018 - World Premiere of "Kalon", performed by BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Martyn Brabbins (conductor)
2020 - Pietà, conducted by Gavin Carr, wins Ivor Novello Award for the Choral Category
