Richard Ayres

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Richard Ayres (born 1965) is a British composer. He was taught by Morton Feldman and Louis Andriessen.

Ayers was born in Cornwall, England in 1965. He studied composition, electronic music, and trombone at Huddersfield Polytechnic until 1989. Since September 1989, Ayres has lived and worked in the Netherlands. He studied postgraduate composition course at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and graduated in 1992. He studied with Louis Andriessen.

Ayres made compositions commissioned by many ensembles and orchestras, including the ASKO Ensemble, Schonberg Ensemble, Ives Ensembles, The Dutch Ballet Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the London Sinfonietta.

Ayres received the Gaudeamus International Composers Award for composition in 1994. His piece No.31 (for trumpet and ensemble) received a recommendation at the UNESCO Rostrum of Composers in Paris in 1999. He received the prestigious Matthijs Vermeulen Award in 2003.

In January 2004, Ayres was appointed as teacher of composition at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.