Mr Colin Riley
Reader in Music

Summary

Colin Riley's music draws on a range of elements including new technologies, improvisation, song-writing and large-scale classical form. It crosses many boundaries and I do a lot of collaborating.

He has just released two albums. A choral album Along The Line with Pegasus chamber choir features soloists Gabriella Swallow (cello) and Gloria Rappo (harp). The Year Round is an intimate collection of songs, one for each month, created for (and with) Melanie Pappenheim.

Important pieces include Warp and Weft a concerto for 2 cellos (Gabriella Swallow / Guy Johnston), Rock Paper Scissors (Ensemble Bash), Earth Voices (Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, Sweden), and his song cycle In Place. His large-scale multi-media orchestral piece Hearing Places was recently premiered by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales to excellent reviews. ‘Witty, inventive music of ear-tickling inventiveness’ (Daily Telegraph). He has also composed a huge body of piano music, some of which has just be released on Matthew Schellhorn’s new album Odd Sympathies.

His latest work is Broken Line (string quartet and fixed media) for the RIOT Ensemble, incorporating AI and the song of the blackbird.

Another album Ocean Songs is due out in the spring; a collaboration with lead singer of Goat Girl Lottie P. It features writer/activist George Monbiot and scientist/writer Helen Czerski, and one of several projects from his production company (with Violist Nic Pendlebury), Sonic Collaborations. He is also currently recording an album of chamber music ‘Ones Twos and Threes’ supported by the PRS for Music’s Composers Fund, the Hinrichsen Foundation and the Vaughan Williams Foundation

Colin runs his own label Squeaky Kate and writes a regular blog about composing, teaching (and other things) called Riley Notes. He is also a member of the Place Collective.

Qualifications

BA Music University of York

PGCE Institute of Education, Uniuversity of London

MA COmposition Guildhall School of Music and Drama

PhD Brunel University london