Professor Richard Bissill GRSM ARAM LRAM ARCM
Key details:
- Department:
- Chamber Music | Wind, Brass & Percussion
- Role:
- Horn (Wind, Brass & Percussion); Chamber Music Coach (Chamber Music)
Biography
Professor Richard Bissill, FGS, FRAM is a horn player, award-winning arranger and composer. He studied horn and piano at the Royal Academy of Music then joined the London Symphony Orchestra, aged 22. From 1984 he served for 33 years as Section Principal Horn of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. He has been a professor of horn at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama since 1983.
As a freelance player he has appeared on countless film soundtracks including The Return of the Jedi, Gladiator, Shrek, The Lord of the Rings and the last seven James Bond films to name but a few. He has also worked and recorded with artists such as Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell and Quincy Jones.
As a member of London Brass since 1990 he has taken part in some of the world’s major music festivals and has taught and given master-classes in Europe, Japan and the USA. Many of his virtuoso arrangements for the 10-piece ensemble have been recorded for Teldec and have become staples of the repertoire.
As a composer he has written several large-scale commissions. For the London Philharmonic Orchestra he composed Christmas Carnival (recorded by the RPO, RSNO and Hallé orchestras and winner of the first MU/YTV Peter Knight Award), Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra and Excite! The London Symphony Orchestra commissioned his Sinfonia Concertante to open its centenary season in 2004. He has also written numerous concert pieces for chamber groups along with music for film and TV plus a huge amount of educational brass music that regularly appears on exam syllabuses.
He was chief arranger on the highly successful 2001 London Horn Sound CD, which was voted ‘the best French horn CD ever’ by the International Horn Society. The 2007 follow-up CD, Give it One, again featured his compositions and arrangements.
Richard has been honoured with fellowships from both the Guildhall School and the Royal Academy of Music and received the Conferment of Title of Professor in 2018.