Composer - Lyricist: Richard Mark Stephen Irwin

From HymnsWithoutWords

Biography

Richard Mark Stephen Irwin (b. 1955) was born in Leicestershire, the son of William John Hepworth Irwin (1923 - 2008) and Lucille Constance (Connie) Irwin. He attended Ratcliffe College in Leicestershire before spending a year at the Huddersfield School of Music where he studied Singing, Composition and Piano. Richard later obtaining a degree in Combined Arts at Leicester Polytechnic (De Monfort University), where he was a member of the pop group The Willbees. He is married to Nicky and has two children.

Whilst primarily working in the computer industry, and being one of the pioneers of the Internet, Richard has always been involved in singing and composition with his his incidental music to The Thwarting of Baron Bollingrew being performed at the Edinburgh Festival in 1981.

In the early 1990's the family moved to rural Wiltshire and Richard was asked to organise the music at Ogbourne St George, building a concert choir of about 30 singers to perform such works as Vivaldi's Gloria and Fauré's Requiem, he also wrote A Village Mass for performance during services. The choir was subsequently run by Ronald Smith of the Royal Academy of Music for a number of years.

Richard and his family spent some 14 years living in Edinburgh where he and Nicky were members of The Chapterhouse Singers, based at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Richard also sang with the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union and other local choirs.

Returning to Wiltshire in late 2006, Richard was given responsibility for creating music for the three parishes of the Ridgeway Benefice part of which has been the contribution of the arrangements on this web site for use in services. In May 2009, Richard was confirmed as Director of Music for Holy Cross, Chiseldon and tasked with rebuilding the choir.

Many of the arrangements available have been requested by his father-in-law and Lay Minister Tim Ormond and Rev. Roger Powell, Rector of Chiseldon and the Ridgeway Team, without whose encouragement they would not have been produced.