Richard Blackford

Composer Richard Blackford is especially well known for his work in dramatic genres, including opera, choral-orchestral music, and more than 200 film and television scores. He has also written several musicals. Blackford was the first-ever composer-in-residence at Baillol College at Oxford University, and during this period, he was commissioned to write Metamorphosis, the first of his four operas. Blackford has also written two stage musicals and music for many theatrical productions, including two for London's Royal National Theatre: The Prince's Play and Fram. He has composed some 200 film and television scores, and in 2001, he received an Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement in that field. Some 20 of Blackford's compositions have been recorded, including The Great Animal Orchestra on a 2014 release by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Blackford's Pietà (2019) won the 2020 Ivor Novello Award in the choral music category.