ABOUT

Richard Yarr MBE is one of the UK’s most versatile music professionals, renowned for his visionary ideas and record for delivery. Based in Northern Ireland, he is an award-winning producer, adjudicator and administrator. His work also spans consultancy projects, revitalising organisations of varying size, and his exceptional interpersonal skills make him a popular guest speaker at conferences, dinners and educational events.

Richard is a graduate of Queen’s University, Belfast, and multi-scholarship winner. He gained a First Class Honours degree in music (BMus) in 1995 and an MMus from King’s College London the following year. As a Choral Scholar at King’s he performed with the renowned Chapel Choir for weekly services, in broadcasts, recordings and on tour.

Richard has worked for the BBC since 2000. He is Senior Producer of Arts and Music at BBC Northern Ireland. With a rich knowledge of repertoire, artists and the music industry, he oversees all classical music output from the region. This includes production of The Lunchtime Concert, Choral Evensong and The New Music Show for BBC Radio 3, as well as broadcasts of the Ulster Orchestra. His work frequently reflects his passion for new and emerging talent. In 2015 he created BBC Northern Ireland’s highly popular School Choir of the Year Competition – a multi-platform offering across TV, Radio and Online. He has also developed partnership schemes with the Arts Council of Northern Ireland to nurture young musicians across classical, jazz, folk and new music.

Elsewhere in the corporation, Richard presents Radio Ulster’s popular Sunday evening requests programme, Sounds Sacred – a position he took up in June 2018. Past roles have included co-ordination of the BBC’s national coverage of Derry~Londonderry UK City of Culture 2013, and positions with the BBC Singers management team and the BBC Proms.

Richard is in demand as a adjudicator and jury member. His warmth and ability to communicate with performers of all levels has taken him to Festival and Feis competitions from Caithness to Navan. Panels have included the prestigious Royal Dublin Society’s Music Bursary totalling 23,000 Euro.

Richard is the Artistic Director of the Northern Ireland International Organ Competition (NIIOC), which he established in 2011 to provide talented young organists, aged 21 and under, with major recital engagements, financial support and recording opportunities. It is now recognised as the world’s leading international competition for young organists and is officially partnered with the St. Albans International Organ Festival.

Richard has extensive experience as a board member. His appointments have included Lisburn City Council’s Arts Advisory Committee (Chair), Belfast Music Society (Vice-Chair), the National Youth Choir of Northern Ireland, and most recently the Charles Wood Festival of Music and Summer School, Armagh. He has been the Festival’s Chair since 2015, transforming it into a vibrant, flourishing organisation. He founded it’s Girls’ Choir in 2017 and it’s International Song Competition in 2019. Additionally, Richard is a Music Advisor for CCEA (The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment, NI) and Director of Music at Belfast’s oldest place of worship – First Church, Rosemary Street.

Richard is Patron of the Northern Ireland Young Musician of the Year, Competition and the Lagan Festival of Speech, Drama, Art and Song. He has just been appointed Music Fellow at Lichfield Cathedral School in Staffordshire where his expertise will be called on to create and profile landmark initiatives.  

Richard was awarded Freedom of the City of London in 2019 and Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts in the same year. He was made a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International in October 2021 and in June 2022 Richard was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Birthday Honours for Services to Music in Northern Ireland. His investiture, by King Charles III, took place at Windsor Castle on Valentine’s Day.