Richard Hosford

FRCM, ARCM, DipRCM(Perf)

Richard Hosford (clarinet) has a busy career both as a soloist and as chamber musician, as well as being Principal Clarinet of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

As a member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe for more than twenty years Richard toured the world, performing the Mozart, Weber and Nielsen concertos as soloist with them in the USA, Japan, Hong Kong, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and the USA with conductors Claudio Abbado, Sir Colin Davis, Michael Tilson Thomas, Oscar Schumsky, Sir Roger Norrington, Gerard Korsten and Paavo Berglund. He has recorded the Mozart and Copland concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Alexander Schneider on ASV.

For several years he was Principal Clarinet with the London Philharmonic before taking up the post of Principal Clarinet with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1994. He gave the first broadcast of Robin Holloways' Clarinet Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and recently performed Harrison Birtwistle's "Melancolia", the Finzi and Copland concertos with them as soloist, as well as a double concerto by Peter Eotvos. He has given performances and broadcasts of Finzi’s Clarinet Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Manchester Camerata in recent years. In 2011 and 2015 he performed as soloist with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and in 2021 broadcast the Copland concerto with the BBCSO. He regularly performs the Mozart Concerto throughout the country with the Mozart Festival Orchestra.

Richard Hosford is a committed chamber musician and has recorded all the major repertoire for wind ensemble with the Wind Soloists of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and has toured with them throughout the world. He has recorded with the chamber ensembles Domus, Endymion, Florestan, Kungsbacka and Conchord. He is a leading member of the Gaudier Ensemble and has recorded many works for strings and wind with them. In 1998 he became a member of the Nash Ensemble with whom he tours and broadcasts regularly. He has recently recorded all the major chamber works of Poulenc and Saints Saens with them as well as discs of chamber works by Brahms, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Ries, Vaughan-Williams, Walton, Weber, Turnage, Birtwistle, Goehr , Bernard Hermann and James Macmillan. In recent years his recordings of the Copland Concerto, the Brahms Trio( with the Florestans ) and the Brahms Quintet (with the Nash) have all been chosen as “First choice” by BBC Radio 3 ‘Record Review‘.

Richard has taught at the Royal College of Music for 25 years and regularly gives masterclasses at leading conservatoires and specialist music schools around the U.K.

Faculties / departments: Woodwind

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