Richard Blackford

Renowned composer Richard Blackford created the musical score for CNN's MILLENNIUM.

Blackford has composed extensively for film and television and has more than 40 screen credits to date, including "City of Joy," "A Maybe Day in Kazakhstan" and "The Shadow of Hiroshima." He also has composed a musical score entitled "King," honoring the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1996, after a 12-year absence of writing for the concert hall, he conducted the premiere of his cantata, "Mirror of Perfection," which received its Royal Festival Hall premiere in February 1997 and was recorded and released by Sony. A BBC film of the piece, "Seven Canticles of St. Francis," was shown on BBC 2 in April 1999.

From 1990-95, Blackford was director of music at the Royal Ballet School, where he wrote the ballet, "Plea to Autumn," which he conducted at the Royal Opera House for a Royal Gala.

Throughout his career, Blackford's works have continued to be commissioned, broadcast and performed at music festivals worldwide. Blackford's critically acclaimed opera, "Sir Gawain and The Green Knight," was released on Argo Records, and the sequel, "Gawain and Ragnall," was broadcast on BBC's Radio 3. His third opera, "Metamorphoses," was commissioned by the Royal College of Music for its centenary production, and his fourth, "The Pig Organ," was performed by the Royal Opera at the Round House.

Blackford was born in London and studied composition with John Lambert at the Royal College of Music.

Awarded a first class bachelor of music degree, he won a Leverhulme Scholarship to study in Rome with Hans Werner Henze. During that period, he won the prestigious Mendelssohn Scholarship and the Tagore Gold Medal.