Born in Bradford in 1987, Richard Uttley read Music at Cambridge University, graduating in 2008 with a Double First.  He studied with Ian Buckle for ten years, and in 2008 began studying with Martin Roscoe at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where he now holds a Fellowship.  In 2010 he was awarded a Distinction in his Master’s of Performance and won 1^st Prize in the Haverhill Sinfonia Soloist Competition.  He was selected for representation by Young Classical Artists Trust in 2011.

Over the last year Richard has appeared at the Royal Festival Hall in a Martin Musical Scholarship Fund concert (where his programme included Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy alongside the world premiere of Barkham Fantasy by Mark Simpson), given recitals at Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room for the Park Lane Group, taken part in the Ribble Valley International Piano week and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, and undertaken a tour of France performing Stravinsky’s Les Noces.

In 2009 he worked with Louis Andriessen in a BBC Proms Composer Portrait recorded by Radio 3 and in 2011 with Brian Ferneyhough as part of a BBC Total Immersion Day followed by a studio recording for the ‘Hear and Now’ programme. His concerto work has included performances of works by Gershwin (Symphony Hall Birmingham), Beethoven, Haydn, Grieg, Poulenc, Rachmaninov and Ravel, as well as music by Adams (Grand Pianola Music) and Stockhausen (Kontra-Punkte). Engagements this season include recitals at Purcell Room and Bridgewater Hall, and a performance of the Grieg Concerto with the Northern Lights Symphony Orchestra at Cadogan Hall.

An exceptionally versatile musician, Richard has commissioned works from composers including Timothy Jackson, Mark Simpson and Chris Willis, with funds from UH Recordings and the RVW Trust.  He has released two discs of 20^th and 21^st Century piano music on the UH Recordings label to critical acclaim.  The first CD features premiere recordings of works by Robin Holloway and led to a Rising Star feature in BBC Music Magazine. As a chamber musician Richard was an Instrumental Award Holder at Cambridge and now regularly works with singers and instrumentalists.  He has also played orchestral piano for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and their contemporary music chamber group, Ensemble 10:10.

During his studies Richard won numerous prizes and awards, including 1^st prize in the Moray Piano Competition 2005 and the British Contemporary Piano Competition 2006.  He has received postgraduate funding from the Arts & Humanities Research Council; an Education Award (2008) and the Myra Hess Scholarship (2009) from the Musicians' Benevolent Fund; a grant from The Tillett Trust to study contemporary repertoire with Nicolas Hodges and Ian Pace; and support from the Worshipful Companies of Drapers and Salters.

Aside from classical music, Richard loves film (particularly Alfred Hitchcock and Woody Allen), the novels of Ian McEwan, and musicals by Stephen Sondheim.  He also composes occasionally, and had his short song cycle, Five Yeats Songs, performed by baritone Stephen Varcoe and pianist Christina Lawrie earlier this year.