SLEEP CIRCLE
Max Richter
for classical music
Biography
One the most influential and acclaimed composers of his generation, Richter is known for his ability to seamlessly blend traditional orchestrations with modern electronic elements. His unparalleled ability to translate profound human experiences into musical compositions has earned him a dedicated global following, with his catalogue amassing over three billion streams to date.
Beyond his solo endeavours, Richter’s is a prolific collaborator who has worked with esteemed creatives and visionaries across multiple disciplines. From scoring Dior shows for Kim Jones to composing for ballets choreographed by Wayne McGregor or his contributions to the world of cinema and TV with directors Denis Villeneuve, Martin Scorsese, and Ari Folman, Richter’s versatility knows no bounds.
Richter is co-founder of Studio Richter Mahr alongside his partner, visual artist Yulia Mahr. Set in the English countryside in Oxfordshire, Max and Yulia built the multimedia production studio inside a former farmhouse and have powered it with cutting-edge solar and heat-pump technology. Located within 31 acres of woodland, the duo have a huge passion for using the land to farm and provide a sustainable working environment, serving as a space where both emerging and established creatives can come to develop their work.
This September, Richter will mark the tenth anniversary of his landmark ‘SLEEP’ project with its largest ever shows. Released in 2015 and co-conceived with his creative partner Yulia Mahr, Richter’s magnum opus, ‘SLEEP’, is regarded as one of the most ambitious and culturally significant classical music projects of the 21st century. An 8 ½ hour musical enquiry into how sound and the sleeping mind interact, it explores the effects of subsonics and repetition to enhance slow wave sleep.
The all-night performances of ‘SLEEP’ have become distinctive cultural events that challenge how we experience music; blurring the lines between concert and art installation and taking place in the world’s most iconic settings such as the Sydney Opera House, Philharmonie de Paris and The Great Wall of China.
The milestone tenth anniversary this September will see Richter bring this transcendental live experience to new audiences by playing the largest SLEEP shows to date at Alexandra Palace in London on Friday 5th & Saturday 6th September. This will mark the first time Richter has performed ‘SLEEP’ in London since 2017. Richter will also release ‘Sleep Circle, a new abridged version of ‘SLEEP’ described as a hallucinatory 90-minute trip into the hypnagogic state – the state during which an individual dreams.
