Richard Marriott

Richard Marriott has been an active composer, musician and instrument builder for more than 30 years. Always engaged by the interaction of music, history, culture, technology and ideas, he has found himself increasingly drawn to opera—in its most inclusive sense—as a means of expression. He has also composed extensively for film, television, dance, theater, and video games.

Marriott’s original operas include Divide Light, which premiered at Montalvo in 2008, Lan Ling, and Godmachine.  He has also written scores for a large array of films, theater pieces, and television shows such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari; Nosferatu; Metropolis; Sherlock Jr.;  Legong; Academy Award-nominated Silver Into Gold; Rising Sun; and the CBS series The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat, among others.  His scores have even been performed at prestigious venues such as Lincoln Center, Smithsonian Institution, BAM, Morgan Library and Castro Theater. As a staff composer for Atari Games (1992-1997), Marriott has also written music for dozens of video games. 

He performs on brass and woodwinds, especially trombone and Balinese suling. His inventions include the “Voltage-controlled Casio,” much used by The Residents among others, and elaborate wind instrument modifications. In compositions for Balinese gamelan such as “Gong Bone,” he has championed the use of Western brass in an Asian context.

His work has been supported by the NEA, Rockefeller Foundation, New York State Music Fund and Meet the Composer. His artistry has been shaped by his teachers—Pauline Oliveros, Dominick Argento,  Ali Akbar Khan, Masayuki Koga, and Serge Tchrepnin.