 Educated at Harrogate High School, he gained an organ scholarship to Christ's College, Cambridge, where he read music and studied the Organ with Arthur Wills and Charles Spinks.Malcolm Riley has also composed and arranged music.His composition, "De Temporibus Canticum" ('Of the Seasons We Sing'), was commissioned by Cranbrook Choral Society to celebrate the Millennium and gave its first performance in December 2000.