Richard Stoker (8 November 1938 – 24 March 2021) was a British composer, writer, actor and artist. There was a strong musical tradition in Stoker's family, and he showed an early aptitude, intrigued by the piano keyboard as soon as he was tall enough to reach it. He started playing the piano at the age of six, started to compose at the age of seven, and went to an uncle for piano lessons. At 15 he went to

Huddersfield Technical College Kirklees College is a further education college with two main centres in the towns of Dewsbury and Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. History The college was formed on 1 August 2008 after the Dewsbury College Dissolution order approved t ...

, studying with

Harold Truscott Harold Truscott (23 August 1914 – 7 October 1992) was a British composer, pianist, broadcaster and writer on music. Largely neglected as a composer in his lifetime, he made an important contribution to the British piano repertoire and was influ ...

and Winifred Smith. After initial encouragement from

Eric Fenby Eric William Fenby Order of the British Empire, OBE (22 April 190618 February 1997) was an English composer, conductor, pianist, organist and teacher who is best known for being Frederick Delius's amanuensis from 1928 to 1934. He helped Delius ...

, Arthur Benjamin and

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

, he entered the

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in 1958 and studied under

Lennox Berkeley Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley (12 May 190326 December 1989) was an English composer. Biography Berkeley was born on 12 May 1903 in Oxford, England, the younger child and only son of Aline Carla (1863–1935), daughter of Sir James Char ...

. He won several prizes at the RAM, culminating in the Mendelssohn Scholarship in 1962, which took him to Paris to study with

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. Returning to London in 1963 he was invited to teach at the RAM, and was a Professor of Composition there for over 20 years. He later became Hon Treasurer and a Founder member of the Royal Academy of Music Guild. He was a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music (FRAM), and also an Associate of the

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(

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). An early success as a composer was with the orchestral overture ''Antic Hay'' (1961) which won the first Royal Amateur Orchestral Society Award. The ''Petite Suite'' of the same year won the first Eric Coates Memorial Prize. Among his other works are the operas ''Johnson Preserv'd'' (1967) and ''Thérèse Raquin'' (1975), four numbered symphonies and a ''Little Symphony'' (spanning 1961-1991), a piano concerto (op.54, 1978), three each of string quartets, piano trios and violin sonatas, as well as song cycles, choral (the dramatic cantata ''Ecce homo'', 1962) and organ music (''Organ Symphony'', op. 58, 1980). Stoker declared the piano to be his favourite instrument, with the guitar a close second: he produced a number of pieces for both instruments. His style was modern but accessible, full of his optimistic, ''joie de vivre'' personality. He edited ''Composer'' magazine between 1969 and 1980, and wrote entries on eight musicians for the ''

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'':

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, Arthur Benjamin, Alan Bush,

Janet Craxton Janet Helen Rosemary Craxton (17 May 192918 July 1981) was an English oboe player and teacher. She was the youngest of the six children and the only daughter of the pianist and teacher Harold Craxton. Her older brothers included the artist John C ...

Anthony Milner Anthony Francis Dominic Milner (13 May 1925 – 22 September 2002) was a British composer, teacher and conductor. Milner was born in Bristol, and educated at Douai School, Berkshire. He was awarded a bursary to attend the Royal College of Music ...

, Robert Simpson and

. Sometimes referred to as a Renaissance Man, he was also a writer: two novels, short stories and poetry (''Words without Music'', 1970, and ''Portrait of a Town'', 1974), three plays (unpublished) and an autobiography, ''Open Window – Open Door'', 1985. As an artist he exhibited some of his drawings and paintings. In later years he enjoyed acting in films and TV - he appeared in over 100 productions, including

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, Maleficent,

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(as body double for

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), Last Christmas and

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. Stoker's first marriage was to Jacqueline (née Trelfer) in 1962. They were divorced in 1985. He married his second wife, Gill (née Watson), in 1986. He was a member of the Garrick Club for several years.

References

Music Web International pages on Stoker by John France (April 2004), accessed 8 February 2010
*Townend, Richard (1968): 'Richard Stoker' ''The Musical Times'', Vol. 109, No. 1503 (May, 1968), pp. 424–42

External links

Playlist of selected musical items.Performance by Karen Wong and Lance Mok of Sonatina for Flute and Piano

Performance by William Wielgus of Three Pieces for Solo Oboe

Performance by Matthew Schellhorn of Piano Sonata No. 1.Performance by Einar Johannesson and Philip Jenkins of Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano.Performance by Rhymney Valley Festival Orchestra of Chorale for Strings.Publications on WorldCat.Composer information on Impulse.Acting website, accessed 29 March 2021
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stoker, Richard 1938 births 2021 deaths People from Castleford 20th-century English composers 20th-century English novelists 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers English classical composers English opera composers Male opera composers English short story writers English male poets English male short story writers English male novelists English male classical composers Associates of the Royal College of Music Fellows of the Royal Academy of Music 20th-century British short story writers 20th-century English male writers 20th-century British male musicians 21st-century British male musicians