Imagined Biography

The former England cricket star Richard Ayres was born in Cornwall in 1965 and at the age of fourteen ran away from home to become second cabin-boy aboard "The Redshank" a merchantman exporting china-clay from the central American Realquetas Islands. Under the critical guidence of the enlightened Captain James 'purple inch' Stanshaw the crew formed an experimental arts group that avidly read and analyzed books such as Joyces' Finnigan's Wake, and most importantly for Ayres, performed the music of John Cage and works by composers associated with the Fluxus movement. It wasn't long before Ayres and other crew members attempted to write their own music and the Redshank Collective's performance "336 Piano Deconstructions" (for pianos and cliff-divers) performed in Acapulco was considered by many in the audience to be one of highest achievements in the field of performance art.

Ayres is currently undergoing an intensive training for the Indian Government sponsored manned flight to Mars planned for 2012, and will not only be responsible for choosing all the listening material for the three year flight, but will be setting up the Martian Sonic Research Center (MARSON) a working replica of IRCAM in Paris. MARSON will host summer schools for gifted students, and established composers may apply to live for one year (extendable to a maximum of five years) in this creative haven away from the demands and stress of their earthly careers.