Richard Marriott has been active as a composer, performer, producer and instrument builder since 1970. He has composed extensively for film, television, dance, theater, opera, installations and video games, encompassing a wide range of styles.

He is the founder and artistic director of the Club Foot Orchestra, the premiere ensemble for live music performance with silent films. The Orchestra has a repertoire of 20 feature-length scores, all of which were composed by Marriott or in collaboration with other orchestra members, and has performed these scores extensively, at venues such as Lincoln Center, BAM, SFJAZZ, Rubin Museum, Morgan Library, and the Smithsonian Institution. The core instrumentation of three woodwinds, two brass, violin, contrabass, electric guitar and percussion is often augmented by forces as diverse as string quartet , Balinese Gamelan, sitar, tablas, and timpani . A recent show featured the Orchestra in collaboration with the San Francisco Conservatory performing their score for Pandora's Box to a sold-out audience at Oakland's Paramount Theate on May 7, 2023. The Orchestra also recently performed an all-day retrospective for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, CA.

His operas include Divide Light, in collaboration with visual artist Lesley Dill, with text drawn from the poetry of Emily Dickinson. DIVIDE LIGHT premiered at the Montalvo Art Center in 2008 with The Choral Project and Del Sol String Quartet. A new production by New Camerata Opera opened on April 26, 2018 at Dixon Place, New York NY. Voyage premiered at the San Francisco International Art Festival in June 2017, featuring Balinese virtuoso Made Subandi and American experimental vocalist Pamela Z. The Passion of Leyla, a chamber opera with a libretto by Ruth Margraff, was workshopped by the San Jose Stage Company in August, 2016. 

BAHAYA is another collaboration with Ruth Margraff. BAHAYA means "Danger" in the Indonesian language, and in this multicultural, multimedia opera, it refers to the rise of sea level caused by the melting of the Polar Ice. Island countries throughout the world are gravely threatened by the rise of the sea level caused by climate change. BAHAYA waves together ocean narratives from Indonesia and Greenland with the Sufi writing of Farid Ud-Din Attar to make the case that the defense of the earth's environment is a necessary credo in the path of self-actualization.

He has collaborated with Overtone Industries on two musical theater projects, SONGS & DANCES OF IMAGINARY LANDS which premiered in Culver City CA in June 2010, and STRING OF PEARLS which has had theatrical runs in Los Angeles and New York. GODMACHINE premiered at CSU Hayward in June 2002 and featured interactive electronics.

Marriott has written six scores for choreographer Della Davidson and has also composed scores for New York choreographers Yoshiko Chuma and Yin Mei. In March 2017, he wrote music for Sara Shelton Mann's INVITATION at ODC Theater (San Francisco)

Thanks to the generosity of R. A. Anderson and his Concerto Initiative, Marriott has composed three new concertos. The Metropolis Concerto for Violin and Wind Ensemble, was premiered February 20, 2015 by soloist Alisa Rose and the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble with Matthew Marsit conducting. The Klezmorim Concerto for Contrabass and Orchestra was premiered April 30, 2018 by soloist Gary Karr and the Gonzaga University Orchestra with Kevin Hekmatpanah conducting. The Ghost Ship Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, was premiered November 16, 2018 by soloist Matthew J. Linaman and the Oakland Symphony with Maestro Michael Morgan conducting.

Marriott's chamber music includes the virtuosic Metropolis Sonata for Violin and Piano which was recorded by violinist Ludwig Duerichen and pianist Javier Jorge in La Coruña Spain in May 2023. This fabulous recording is available on Bandcamp as are other recorded compositions. Ludwig and Javier,  joined by cellist Maximilian Von Pfeil form the Caligari Trio, soon to be performing Marriott's scores for silent film.

Other credits include music for the Hollywood feature RISING SUN, the Academy Award nominee SILVER INTO GOLD and the CBS animated series THE TWISTED TALES OF FELIX THE CAT.

Marriott was employed as a composer at Atari Games from 1992-1997 and worked at Serge Modular Music Systems 1980-82. In 1981 he invented the voltage-controlled Casio which has been used by musicians such as The Residents, Throbbing Gristle, and Captain Beefheart.

Marriott is a performer on wind instruments and is an avid enthusiast of international marching ensembles. He also designs and constructs electronic instruments which he uses in performance.