Richard Roderick Jones was born in Newport, South Wales, in 1947. He studied at The Royal College of Music in the late 1960s and subsequently completed degrees at Bristol University. He was the first Head of Music at the Stratford-upon-Avon College in the 1970s. Between 1979 and 1993 he was a tutor at The Welsh College of Music and Drama before becoming a tutor at Oxford University between 1993 and 1995.
Richard was a visiting lecturer at Birmingham and Cardiff Universities for many years as well as The Birmingham Conservatoire for Music. He was composer and musical director of The National Youth Theatre of Wales between 1978 and 1987.
Richard’s works have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and 4, BBC, ITV and
Channel 4 television and played in many concert venues in this country such at London’s South Bank and Cardiff’s St David’s Hall. Other performance venues
have included Westminster Abbey, Salisbury Cathedral, Coventry Cathedral,
Wells Cathedral and other great churches. His music has been represented at some leading international music festivals and has often been played in America and on the continent.
Richard’s output includes five operas, three symphonies and other orchestral music. There are also several large scale works for children and young people, much choral and chamber music as well as dozens of scores for the theatre and television.
Richard has been commissioned by the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 television, Children’s Finchley Music Group, The Royal Welsh College, The National Youth Theatre of Wales, Theatre Wales and many leading vocalists and instrumentalists. He has had over two dozen commissions supported by the Welsh Arts Council.
Richard was composer-in-residence at Alcester Grammar School from 2002 until 2011. He enjoys working with and writing for young people. He has always been keen to encourage and enlighten the amateur music lover.
