“Richter is the architect of a post-minimalist electronic revolution at the borderlands of classical music” –The ECONOMIST, 1843 MAGAZINE
“Richter works in a tone that is sincere and serious; many of his pieces could be described as beautiful. It’s a style at odds with the fashionable inscrutability of postmodernism.”
–LOS ANGELES TIMES
“No contemporary composer expresses the same complexity of emotion on screen as Max Richter, whose work pervades modern culture, from film to television to dance to theater.” –THE ATLANTIC
Max Richter stands as one of the most prodigious figures on the contemporary music scene, with ground-breaking work as a composer, pianist, producer, and collaborator. From synthesizers and computers to a full symphony orchestra, Richter’s innovative work encompasses solo albums, ballets, concert hall performances, film and television series, video art installations and theatre works. He is Classically trained, studying at Edinburgh University, the Royal Academy of Music, London, and completing his studies with composer Luciano Berio in Florence.
“Memoryhouse”, Richter’s 2002 debut, has been described by The Independent, and Pitchfork Magazine as a “landmark”, while his 2004 album “The Blue Notebooks” was chosen by The Guardian as one of the best Classical works of the century. “SLEEP”, his eight- and-a-half-hour concert work, has been broadcast and performed worldwide, including at the Sydney Opera House, Berlin’s Kraftwerk, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Philharmonie de Paris, and at the Barbican, London. In 2012 Richter “Recomposed” the infamous Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, winning him the prestigious ECHO Classic Award, and an established place in the classical charts.
In recent years Richter’s music has become a mainstay for many of the world’s leading ballet companies, including The Mariinski Ballet, La Scala Milan, The Joffrey Ballet, New York City Ballet, The Paris Opera Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Semper Oper, and NDT, while his collaborations with Wayne McGregor for The Royal Ballet have been widely acclaimed. Richter has written prolifically for film and television, with recent projects
including Hostiles, Black Mirror, Taboo – which gained him an Emmy nomination, HBO
series The Leftovers and My Brilliant Friend and most recently White Boy Rick, Mary Queen of Scots and the sci-fi drama Ad Astra starring Brad Pitt. His music is also featured in Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, Ari Folman’s Waltz With Bashir and in the Oscar-winning Arrival by Denis Villeneuve.
Richter’s most recent commissions are from the city of Bonn to mark the Beethoven
250th year anniversary, and a further collaboration between Richter, Margaret Attwood and Wayne McGregor, based on Atwood’s Maddaddam trilogy of novels. His latest recorded project, VOICES, will be released in 2020.