Biography
Piers Hellawell's work has been commissioned, broadcast and performed in many countries. He has for some years taught composition at the Queen's University of Belfast, where he has the Chair of Composition; from 2000 to 2003 he was also Gresham Professor of Music, a visiting post in the City of London.
Recent commissions in the U.K. include those from the BBC Proms, the Hilliard Ensemble, Schubert Ensemble of London and the London Symphony Orchestra, with performances at numerous British and overseas festivals. In 2004 Hellawell's 'Cors de chasse' received its world premiere at the Brighton Festival, given by Hkan Hardenberger, Jonas Bylund and the Philharmonia Orchestra. Other collaborations have involved Michala Petri, Evelyn Glennie, Psappha, Scottish Ensemble, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, The RT Vanbrugh String Quartet and Trio Mediaeval. In 1999 Inside Story was premiered at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts; the CD of that and other recent major works appeared in 2002, on the Metronome label, when it was a BBC Music Magazine CD of the Month.
The year 2002 also saw the premiere of The Pear Tree of Nicostratus, by the Hilliard Ensemble and the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, at Finland's Kaustinen Festival, where Hellawell was featured in a major retrospective. The work was repeated in Sweden in both 2003 and 2004, and has had its UK premiere in 2004, with the Hilliard Ensemble being partnered by the Britten Sinfonia for an English tour. The Hilliard Songbook, which gave rise to the Hilliard Ensemble's ECM album of that name in 1996, is, in the words of The Independent, "one of the most enduring of their many commissions". It was in 2004 part of the Hilliard's 30th Anniversary celebration events: the set has been given in Germany as well as in festivals in Cheltenham, Manchester and elsewhere, while in London it opened the Hilliard's Anniversary series in the Wigmore Hall.
Recent projects include a major project for the Northern Sinfonia a set of pieces for the opening of their new multi-venue concert space, The Sage Gateshead, in December 2004 and a new orchestral commission from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra for 2005 and a work for COMA's Open Score project at London's Spitalfields Festival. Hellawell continues to explore radical designs in chamber music media for leading ensembles; Landscape with Portraits was premiered by Chamber Domaine at the 2004 Cheltenham Festival. |
