Richard graduated from St Martins School of Art in the early 80’s, where his painting tutor was Gillian Ayres and Malcolm Le Grice, the Godfather of the British avant garde film movement, was a great mentor for a composer with an innate passion for experimenting in the combined disciplines of film and music.
Whilst at St Martins, he started writing scores and collaborating with students who were making films and art installation projects at the Royal College of Art and the National Film School, where his first score was a collaboration with Cornelius Cardew and PLM.
His career took off, and he initially became known as an exciting and innovative composer of distinctive electronic scores for television documentaries and drama productions.
Having discovered a love of writing and arranging for strings and orchestra, Richard developed a reputation for writing alternative period movie scores, introducing choirs and voices, in a diverse range of genres, from electro drum and bass, to folk and jazz. He was also commissioned for many theatre production scores and live events. Though his love of composing and producing movie scores, has always remained at the core of his work.
Recent work involves an ongoing collaboration with writer/director Damian Mc Carthy, whose successful debut feature CAVEAT, is followed by the release of ODDITY in mid 2024, involving use and genres of music with film, that continually attempt to push boundaries.
Previously, his score for MOBY DICK starring William Hurt, Ethan Hawke, Gillian Anderson, Charlie Cox & Donald Sutherland, was a more traditional Hollywood epic style work with choir and orchestra.
A GOOD WOMAN starring Scarlett Johansson & Helen Hunt, was an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's original play 'Lady Windermere's Fan' and relocated to the Amalfi coast, of the 1930's. The movie was directed by Mike Barker, who Richard also composed scores for both MOBY DICK & SEA WOLF starring Sebastian Koch. Their collaboration started in the 90's at the BBC with Anne Bronte's THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL, later followed by TO KILL A KING - a movie which tells of events at the end of the English Civil War with Tim Roth as Oliver Cromwell, and a cast including Olivia Williams, Dougray Scott & Rupert Everett.
Richard composed a country based score for indie feature GRAND THEFT PARSONS, starring Johnny Knoxville, Michael Shannon & Christine Applegate allowing him the opportunity to work with legendary pedal steel guitar player Al Perkins. The movie was based on the bizarre events that followed the death in the early 1970's of Country Rock singer Gram Parsons, whose friend Al Perkins played in the band on his albums.
The score for UK/Canadian movie ALMOST HEAVEN, a romantic comedy shot in Scotland starring Tom Conti, involved a score and song collaboration with Phil Collins.
He was honoured with a commission to record a score with the Polish Symphony Orchestra for THE CALL OF THE TOAD written by Günter Grass, and directed by celebrated arthouse director Robert Glinskî. The movie was produced by Regina Ziegler as a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and birth of the Solidarity movement.
Richard's other film scores include ACROSS THE LAKE for BBC Screen One, starring Sir Anthony Hopkins as the legendary world record speed ace Donald Campbell and THE BRIDGE starring Saskia Reeves and Joss Ackland. His world music track on ESCAPE FROM TIBET which involved performances by Tibetan musicians reinforces the diversity of his work.
Earlier films include Renny Harlins' action blockbuster BORN AMERICAN, LA COUPE DE LA GLOIRE, a movie about the 1998 French World Cup and BASIL, a Hollywood period film based on the Wilkie Collins novel starring Christian Slater, Jared Leto, Sir Derek Jacobi and Claire Forlani. TEMPESTA, directed by Tim Disney, starred Malcolm McDowell, Scot Williams, and Rutger Hauer - the thriller, takes its name from the painting by Giorgione, is shot in Venice and set in the world of art forgery.
He has an association with Wells Cathedral Choir, was commissioned to compose a jazz suite for the highly acclaimed Francis Bacon Retrospective at the Tate Gallery, the Opening Ceremony for FIFA's Euro 96 Football Championship which was televised live from Wembley Stadium and his composition for the theatre includes the score for Corin Redgrave's production of OUSAMA and HIDDEN IN THE SAND, which was written and directed by the award-winning playwright & director James Phillips at the Trafalgar Theatre in London's West End.
Richard's latest project, GATE TO THE DARK, sees him embarking on a journey to bring together the disciplines of music, art and science. In collaboration with filmmaker Benedict Redgrove, the European Space Agency's EUCLID space mission, and physicist Lucas Vieira, the team are creating an ambitious multi-media piece, to celebrate the spirit of human endeavour, in the search for Dark Matter & Dark Energy. EUCLID launched from Cape Canaveral on Space X, in Q3 2023.