Robin Richards is a Manchester based composer and the bass guitarist/lead songwriter of the band Dutch Uncles. He studied composition at the University of Salford, graduating in 2011 with a first class BA Music honours degree. His mentor at Salford was composer and conductor Joe Duddell, and Robin received two awards for his compositions whilst at the university (The Elgar Howarth Composition Shield 2010, and The Innovation in Audience Engagement Award 2011). He was commissioned by HOME, Manchester to compose a new live score for screenings of the 1928 silent film ‘Lonesome’ as part of their opening weekend event in May 2015. Following two sold out screenings of the film with live performances of the soundtrack, he also worked on further live scoring projects supported by HOME and Arts Council England, in collaboration with visual artist and film maker Clara Casian (‘Birdsong – Stories from Pripyat’, 2016 and ‘The Earth Asleep’, 2021). In 2017, Robin was artist in residence at the Gefail Yr Ynys forge in Caernarfon, and produced several pieces as part of an exhibition, collaborating with mix media sculptor Mike Murray. The residency was supported by Arts Council Wales. In 2019, He was commissioned by Brighter Sound and Manchester City Council to be musical director and lead composer on ‘From the Crowd’ – a large scale immersive event commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre. He has also had commissioned works for several other festivals and venues including Festival No. 6 (‘Washington Trapeze’, 2013, and ‘Lonesome Preludes’, 2015), Flatpack Film Festival (‘Birdsong’, 2017), Hinterlands Film Festival and Timber Festival (‘Then There Was Everything’, 2021), and Factory International at Aviva Studios (‘Deep Flow’, 2023). He has released music via independent record labels including Memphis Industries and PRAH Recordings. His 2019 EP ‘Castel’ included the piece ‘Toompea’, which was performed at the London Coliseum in December 2023 as part of the Studio Richter Mahr event VOICES commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. He has received support from BBC Radio 6 Music (including plays and features on the shows of Mary Anne Hobbs, Stuart Maconie, Lauren Laverne, Mark Radcliffe, Marc Riley, Huw Stephens, Chris Hawkins) and on BBC Radio 3 – where he also performed a live session on the station’s Northern Drift show in 2022, presented by Elizabeth Alker. Robin has composed the majority of the music for his band Dutch Uncles, and has toured Europe extensively over the last 16 years, as well as performing at the UK’s most high profile music festivals.