Richard Barrett, born in Swansea in 1959, studied composition principally with Peter Wiegold. He is equally active as composer and performer, and equally committed to notated composition, free improvisation and the exploration of musical strategies in which these practices become fused with one another. Particularly important in this regard are his collaborations since 1989 with the Australian ensemble Elision, since 1986 in the electronic duo FURT with Paul Obermayer, and with improvising performers such as Evan Parker, George E. Lewis and Ute Wassermann.