Piers Hellawell: The Composers’ Fund
Piers Hellawell’s work has been performed around the world by artists such as LSO, Håkan Hardenberger, Evelyn Glennie, Philharmonia Orchestra and Hilliard Ensemble. The 2012 CD ‘Airs, Waters’ was hailed as “gorgeously impassioned work….. a rich kaleidoscope of inspired creativity”. 2014 saw the improvisation-collaboration Sound Carvings, Strange Tryst, premiered in the New Music Biennial; in 2016 came Wild Flow at the BBC Proms, Up By The Roots – a collaboration with poet Sinéad Morrissey – and a feature at Detroit’s Great Lakes Festival. For many years Hellawell has been Professor of Composition at Queen’s University of Belfast.
The activity for which the PRS Foundation grant is sought is a large-scale recording project to allow me to make comprehensive digital recordings that document and perpetuate my major works of the last eight years – using, in each case, the artists for whom I conceived the work originally. My 2016 BBC Proms work ‘Wild Flow’ is centre-piece, recorded by The Ulster Orchestra; other artists involved include William Howard (piano), Hard Rain Ensemble and Paul Watkins (cello) – all forces with whom I have close collaborative relationships. The recordings will subsequently be released on CD into the public domain.