Max Richter

Max Richter (born 1966 in Hamelin, Germany, raised in Bedford, England) is a British composer, producer and pianist whose work occupies a distinctive space between contemporary classical music and ambient electronics. He studied composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London and philosophy at Edinburgh University, before studying under Luciano Berio in Florence.

Richter's recordings — including Memoryhouse (2002), The Blue Notebooks (2004), Songs from Before (2006), Sleep (2015, an eight-hour composition designed to be listened to overnight), and Voices (2020) — have sold in millions and brought contemporary classical music to a vast new audience. His film and television scores include Waltz with Bashir, Shutter Island, The Leftovers and Mary Queen of Scots.

His association with Wayne McGregor and The Royal Ballet has produced two of the company's most significant contemporary commissions: Woolf Works (2015), a three-part work drawing on three Virginia Woolf novels, which won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance, and MADDADDAM (2024), co-created with novelist Margaret Atwood, based on her dystopian trilogy. Both scores demonstrate Richter's characteristic blend of lyrical strings, electronic processing and structural elegance. He collaborated closely with McGregor on both projects, composing music that functions simultaneously as concert work and choreographic score.