Richard Grantham composer / arranger

Richard Grantham is a jack of all musical trades whose compositional and performing experience stretches from orchestras to bands to solo improvisation, encompassing an exceptionally broad range of classical, folk, popular, cabaret and experimental styles. He composed his first piece (for piano) at age seven and his first orchestral work at 14, winning the ABC's Young Composer Award that year. Honed by studies in composition at the University of Queensland under Philip Bracanin (graduating with first class honours and a University Medal) and eight years in the Queensland Youth Symphony, he has gone on to compose and arrange music for festivals, films, theatre, spoken word and burlesque, as well as for the concert hall.

Improvisation is an important aspect of Richard's compositional practice, both as a mode of composition in itself and also directly informing the form and content of recent fully-notated works such as The Lyrebird in my Piano. Having spent the best part of the last decade performing and touring with a multitude of bands, he has become an adept improviser upon a large number of stringed, keyed and woodwind instruments (including all four featured in this work). His solo improvising act The Viola Cloning Project uses a loop recorder and other effects pedals to turn his customised five-string carbon-fibre viola into a one-man string and percussion orchestra, and has performed with performance poet Ghostboy (David Stavanger), Zen Zen Zo physical theatre company, and at conferences and festivals including three appearances in closing ceremonies of the Woodford Folk Festival.