Since the release of the acclaimed CD Wind Up (Critic's Choice, Gramophone, 2000), Paul Archbold’s output has included two string quartets: Impacts and Fractures for the Kreutzer String Quartet and Nine Memos for the Arditti String Quartet. More recently, he has collaborated with the oboist Christopher Redgate, composing two works specifically for the Howarth-Redgate oboe: Zechstein and Two pieces for oboe and piano. Such collaboration with performers is a hallmark of Archbold’s approach to composition, enabling him to explore the detailed intricacies of microtones and multiphonics and meaningfully integrate them into his musical language. This interest in the structure of sound also translates into a fascination with live electronics, which is incorporated into several of his works such as Fluxions and A Little Night Music.
Archbold studied composition at the Academy with Richard Stoker and Malcolm Hill, privately with Philip Grange, and gained a doctorate from the University of Durham following studies with John Casken, Peter Manning and Sohrab Uduman. He has held composition lectureships at the universities of Huddersfield, Durham and Kingston. He was Director of the Institute of Musical Research, University of London from 2011 to 2015 and currently teaches at Guildhall School of Music & Drama.