Richard Causton

Richard Causton (born 1971) is an English composer. Born in London, he began his early musical education at the ILEA Centre for Young Musicians. He has studied music at the University of York, the Royal College of Music and the Scuola Civica di Musica in Italy, and now works in England as a freelance composer, arranger and composition teacher.

Biography

Causton began his formal composition training in India under the direction of Param Vir, before studying for a bachelors degree at the University of York under Roger Marsh between 1990 and 1993. Having graduated with first-class honours, he took an M.A in composition the following year. He also undertook a Foundation Scholarship at the Royal College of Music, studying composition under Jeremy Dale Roberts and conducting under Edwin Roxburgh. In 1997, receipt of the Mendelssohn Scholarship enabled him to study electro-acoustic composition at the Scuola Civica di Musica.

Causton is best known for his work in acoustic avante garde music. He has written several works of note, including "The Persistence of Memory" (1995), "Non mi comporto male" (1993), and "Two Pieces for Two Clarinets" (1995). His work is widely played and he is recognised as a leading figure in the new generation of composers.

As well as composing, Causton now teaches at the Birmingham Conservatoire alongside former teacher Edwin Roxburgh and other eminent figures such as Joe Cutler, Howard Skempton, and Michael Wolters. He also teaches at Wells Cathedral School. He founded and runs the Royal College of Music Gamelan Programme, and is a judge on this years panel for the SPNM (Society for the Promotion of New Music) composers shortlist. He has previously held positions as a composition teacher at the Royal College of Music, and as Fellow Commoner in the Creative Arts at Trinity College Cambridge. Causton has been the recipient of a long list of awards and scholarships, most recently the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Chamber-Scale Composition in 2006, for his piece "Phoenix".

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