biography

Richard Barrett (Swansea, 1959) is internationally active as composer and performer, teaches at the Institute of Sonology in The Hague and is Professor of Creative Music Research at the University of Leiden. His work encompasses a range from free improvisation to intricately-notated scores, and from acoustic chamber music to innovative uses of digital technology. Ongoing collaborations include with Paul Obermayer (in FURT), Evan Parker, and several other improvising ensembles such as SKEIN (with Achim Kaufmann, Frank Gratkowski, Wilbert de Joode and others) and Colophony (with Jon Rose and Meinrad Kneer). His collaboration with the ELISION Ensemble began in 1990 and has resulted in numerous compositions including the evening-length works Opening of the Mouth, DARK MATTER and CONSTRUCTION, with a new three-hour work entitled PSYCHE currently in progress. Alongside this, he is currently working on natural causes, a cycle of works based on texts by the English poet Simon Howard, and PS, a cycle of works on texts by Sappho. Richard Barrett’s principal composition teacher was Peter Wiegold. In October 2020 he set up the digital label STRANGE STRINGS together with harpist Milana Zarić. His books Music of Possibility (2019) and Transforming Moments (2023) are published by Vision Edition. The British CD label Sargasso has initiated a recorded edition of his work with close-up (a collaboration with Ensemble Studio 6), released in 2025. The second in this series has ELISION playing music for ensemble and for soloists and electronics, to be released in early 2027.