Short Biography
Richard Ayres was born in 1965.
He composes music and lives in an house (in Holland).
Imaginary Biography
The former England cricket star Richard Ayres was born in Cornwall in
1965 and at the age of fourteen ran away from home to become second cabin-boy
aboard "The Redshank" a merchantman exporting china-clay from
the central American Realquetas Islands. Under the critical guidence of
the enlightened Captain James 'purple inch' Stanshaw the crew formed an
experimental arts group that avidly read and analyzed books such as Joyces'
Finnigan's Wake, and most importantly for Ayres, performed the music of
John Cage and works by composers associated with the Fluxus movement.
It wasn't long before Ayres and other crew members attempted to write
their own music and the Redshank Collective's performance "336 Piano
Deconstructions" (for pianos and cliff-divers) performed in Acapulco
was considered by many in the audience to be one of highest achievements
in the field of performance art.
Ayres is currently undergoing an intensive training for the Indian Government
sponsored manned flight to Mars planned for 2027, and will not only be
responsible for choosing all the listening material for the three year
flight, but will be setting up the Martian Sonic Research Center (MARSON)
a working replica of IRCAM in Paris. MARSON will host summer schools for
gifted students, and established composers may apply to live for one year
(extendable to a maximum of five years) in this creative haven away from
the demands and stress of their earthly careers.
Regular Biography
Richard Ayres was born in Cornwall (Great Britain) in 1965. In 1986 he followed Morton Feldman's classes at the Darmstadt and Dartington summer schools, and after this experience decided to make music a full-time occupation.
He studied composition, electronic music, and trombone at the polytechnic in Huddersfield, graduating with Distinction in 1989. Since September 1989 he has lived and worked in the Netherlands. He followed the postgraduate composition course at the Royal Conservatoire in Den Haag, studying with Louis Andriessen, and graduating in 1992. He taught composition at the Royal Conservatoire between 2004 and 2006, and now teaches the same subject at the Conservatoire in Amsterdam.
From 1990 Richard Ayres has worked as composer receiving performances from among others the ASKO Ensemble, the Schönberg Ensemble, Ives Ensemble, Orkest de Volharding, Maarten Altena Ensemble, The Netherlands Ballet Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Apartment House, London Sinfonietta, Klangforum Wien, MusikFabrik, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Continuum (Toronto) as well as writing for ensembles with more unusual instrumentations formed for specific projects.
In September 1994 during the Gaudeamus Music week he was awarded the International Gaudeamus prize for composition, and in June 1999 "No.31" (for trumpet and ensemble) was awarded a "recommendation" at the Unesco Rostrum of Composers in Paris. In 2003 Ayres was awarded the Vermeulen Prize, the highest award for a composition in the Netherlands.
Future commissions include a NONcerto for Oboe for Bart Schneemann to be premiered in the Concertgebouw, and piece for The Netherlands Wind Ensemble and the soprano Barbara Hannigan.