Christopher Richards

While at the Guildhall, he won the Needlemakers' Wind Prize and reached the finals of the 2001 Shell/LSO Competition where he performed Weber's first Clarinet Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra. After his studies, he was appointed principal clarinet with the Northern Sinfonia at the Sage Gateshead and in 2010 became principal clarinet with the London Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed as a guest principal with most of the UK's leading orchestras.

Chris has appeared as a soloist with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, London Symphony Orchestra Chamber Ensemble, English Symphony Orchestra and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group with conductors including Thomas Zehetmair, Robin Ticciati, H. K. Gruber and Nicholas McGegan. He has also broadcast John Adams’s Gnarly Buttons, Birtwistle's Linoi and the Strauss Duett-Concertino on BBC Radio 3. In 2008 Chris gave the premiere of Richard Rodney Bennett's Troubadour Music for clarinet and piano at the Wigmore Hall.

A regular performer of chamber music, Chris has played at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, LSO St Luke's, The Sage Gateshead and Aldeburgh Festival with artists such as the Aronowitz Ensemble, London Symphony Orchestra Chamber Ensemble, Ensemble 360, Thomas Adès, Pascal Rogé and Howard Shelley. He is also a regular member of the John Wilson Orchestra.