Richard Watkins was Principal Horn of the Philharmonia Orchestra for twelve years, and is currently a member of the Nash Ensemble and is a founding member of London Winds.

Watkins has appeared at many of the world's most prestigious venues and has worked with conductors such as Carlo Maria Giulini, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Leonard Slatkin, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Vasily Petrenko, Andrew Davis and Mark Elder.

His extensive discography includes recordings of concertos by Mozart, Malcolm Arnold, Reinhold Glière, Ethel Smyth and Colin Matthews, as well as Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante and chamber music for horn by Schumann, Schubert and Poulenc. Forthcoming releases include a recording of contemporary horn repertoire for NMC of works written for Watkins, a Wigmore Live disc of Britten, and Edward Gregson's Horn Concerto.

In recital, Watkins regularly performs with singers such as John Mark Ainsley, Ian Bostridge and Mark Padmore, and with pianists Barry Douglas, Julius Drake, Paul Lewis, Roger Vignoles and Ian Brown.

Closely associated with promoting contemporary music for the horn, Watkins has given premieres of concertos by Peter Maxwell Davies, Osborne, Magnus Lindberg, Dominic Muldowney, Nicola Lefanu, and Colin and David Matthews. Watkins holds the Dennis Brain Chair of Horn Playing at the Royal Academy of Music where he is also a Fellow.

Watkins has a long association with Aldeburgh Music, first performing Britten's Serenade with Sir Peter Pears in 1983. Since then he has appeared regularly as soloist and recitalist, performing concertos by Colin Matthews and Oliver Knussen as well as performances of Britten.s works for solo horn, the Serenade and Canticles.