kdykam

Richard Ayres

About

Richard Ayres (born 29 October 1965 in Cornwall) is a British composer based in the Netherlands, working at the intersection of contemporary concert music, music theatre, and absurdist comedy. He studied with Louis Andriessen at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague and has taught at the Amsterdam Conservatoire since 2006. He is best known for his series of 'NONcertos' - works that cast the soloist as a Beckettian anti-hero - and for two operas, The Cricket Recovers (2005) and Peter Pan (2013), staged across Europe. He received the Vermeulen Prize in 2003, the Netherlands' top composition award.

1994
Gaudeamus International Composition Prize
2003
Vermeulen Prize (highest Dutch composition award)
2022
Honorary Doctorate, University of Huddersfield
2 albums
Portrait recordings (Donemus 2003, NMC 2010)

What's new

  • 2025-05

    A new composition No. 59 (Dr Frompou's Anatomical Study of an Orchestra) for Aurora Orchestra had premieres in London, Snape, Potsdam and Linz.

  • 2025-01

    The German premiere of NONcerta No. 57 (K's Strange Day) took place in Mainz with Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Mainz conducted by Hermann Bäumer.

  • 2024-09

    The world premiere of No. 58 (Bruckner) for the ensemble Asko|Schönberg took place on 13 September 2024 at Muziekgebouw Amsterdam as a tribute to the 200th anniversary of Anton Bruckner's birth.

  • 2024-09

    The world premiere of No. 57 (K's Strange Day) for solo timpani and orchestra took place on 4 September 2024 in Helsinki with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Collon.

  • 2022

    The University of Huddersfield awarded Ayres an honorary doctorate; in the same year, a successful premiere of a new production of the opera Peter Pan took place in Mainz.

Tracks

No. 39 (The Cricket Recovers)first opera, premiere in Aldeburgh 2005, productions in Stuttgart, Weimar, Braunschweig and Mainz
No. 45 (Peter Pan)second opera, premiere in Stuttgart 2013; performed at Komische Oper Berlin and Welsh National Opera
No. 42 (In the Alps)animated concert for soprano Barbara Hannigan and Netherlands Blazers Ensemble, recording released
No. 36 (NONcerto for horn and ensemble)performed by Stefan Dohr with the Berlin Philharmonic under Simon Rattle (2016)
No. 57 (K's Strange Day)NONcerto for solo timpani and orchestra, world premiere in Helsinki September 2024

😴 Nothing scheduled with this artist in the near future.

Past · 1

← Back to home