Person Open DS/UK/18109 Orton; Richard (1940-2013); British composer, performer, music educator Orton Richard 1940-2013 British composer, performer, music educator Male

Dr. Richard Orton (1940–2013) was a composer, performer and Music Educator. In 1968 he co-founded the electronic music ensemble Gentle Fire along with Hugh Davies. Orton worked at the Department of Music at the University of York from 1967 to 1996. He established the University’s Electronic Music Studio (EMS) in 1968, the first in a university in the North of England. The studio began as a ‘classical’ tape studio, but later adopted the technologies of the voltage-controlled synthesizer and digital systems. He proposed the Project teaching system which is still the basis of teaching at York and which has been emulated by many University Music departments around the world. He established the Mediamix series of concerts, which combined performances of electro-acoustic compositions with film, dance and other performance media. He was a co-founder of the Composer’s Desktop Project, which placed affordable sound technologies on the individual composer’s desk, and developed musical composition software, which formed part of the CDP system. In the early 1980s, with his colleague Dr. Ross Kirk from the Department of Electronics at York, he started work on the concept of Music Technology as an academic discipline. This led to the establishment of the world's first postgraduate course in Music Technology in 1986. International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition - ICA 2004 ISBN 2-9521932-2-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 Yes RAHdroberts 6/20/2014 Rachael.Fragola 3/1/2022 9a76a4ee-8543-4d83-b710-f12cad3691da