Richard Barrett (composer)

Richard Barrett (born 7 November 1959) is a Welsh composer. Biography Barrett was born in Swansea, Wales and attended Olchfa School. After completing his first bachelor’s degree in genetics and microbiology from University College London in 1980, he began to study music, taking private lessons with Peter Wiegold, and soon thereafter participating in the 1984 Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik where there were fruitful encounters with Brian Ferneyhough and Hans-Joachim Hespos. In the late 1980s he became associated with the so-called New Complexity group of British composers because of the intricate notation of his scores. He is equally active in free improvisation, most often in the electronic duo FURT with Paul Obermayer, formed in 1986, but also since 2003 as a member of the Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble. Since 1990 about half of his compositions have been written for the ELISION Ensemble, most notably the extended works Opening of the Mouth, DARK MATTER, CONSTRUCTION and world-line. Most of his compositions since the 1990s have involved both acoustic and electronic resources, combined in many different ways. In 2005 he and Obermayer formed the electroacoustic octe