Since 1993 he has taught at the University of Bristol, where he is Professor of Composition and Applied Musicology, and was Head of Music between 2009 and 2013, and again between 2017 and 2018.
Pickard is also conductor of the University of Bristol Symphony Orchestra and Choral Society.
Pickard has composed a number of critically well-received orchestral and instrumental works, among them six symphonies[1] and a number of symphonic works, including perhaps his best-known piece, The Flight of Icarus, which the San Francisco Chronicle called "a translucent and achingly lovely memorial to the fallen Icarus ... a serious contender for the most exciting musical premiere of 2006".
[2] His orchestral writing has been highly praised: in March 2008 The Times commented that "his orchestral mastery is total",[3] while, in April 2008 The Guardian described his music as "at its best virtuosically effective, in a style that never seems either self-consciously conservative or too stubbornly middle-of-the-road".
2, 3 and 4, offered the opinion that "if Pickard were never to write another quartet in his life, his place among the greats is secure".