[4] He was educated at Dartington Hall School and subsequently studied at the Royal College of Music, where one of his contemporaries and close friends was Malcolm Arnold,[1] who composed in 1940 a Grand Fantasia for flute, trumpet and piano for him and a pianist, premiered in February 1941.

He joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1941, initially as second flute, and played with them until 1950 and again from 1961 to 1970,[1] under such conductors as Henry Wood and Wilhelm Furtwängler.

[7] He was one of the founding members of the Melos Ensemble,[8] principal flautist of the English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) until the 1970s when he was succeeded by William Bennett,[9][10] and also regularly performed as a soloist.

[19] With the Melos Ensemble he recorded chamber music for both woodwinds and strings, such as Ravel's Introduction and Allegro along with Osian Ellis (harp), Gervase de Peyer (clarinet), Emanuel Hurwitz and Ivor McMahon (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola) and Terence Weil (cello).

After having played under conductors as Sergiu Celibidache, Bruno Walter, Sir Thomas Beecham and Claudio Abbado, he ended his professional career in 1990.

[4] Richard Adeney has also been a photographer whose photos appear on record covers and illustrate his autobiography[6] and other books.