Hannah is a British composer whose music has been described as “boldly individual, exquisitely crafted” by The Seattle Times and “searingly impactful” by The New Statesman. The New York Times has written that she “writes music with a vocabulary of her own.” In 2022 she was awarded the Hindemith Prize for outstanding contemporary composers and, in 2023, she received the Best Large Ensemble Composition Ivor Novello Award for shouting forever into the receiver, commissioned by Südwestrundfunk for Ensemble Modern at Donaueschinger Musiktage. shouting forever into the receiver was the title track on her debut portrait album released on NMC Recordings in June 2025. The album received five stars from BBC Music Magazine, which wrote “this collection may be her finest showcase yet.” The Wire described it as a “boldly uncompromising and revelatory programme.”
Known for her attentive arrangements and immersive world-building, Hannah’s music looks beyond the boundaries of composition. It bridges gaps between different musical cultures, both honouring and questioning the contemporary tradition while telling new stories through it, contrasting fine detail with limitless abandon. She has had pieces commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra (I have discovered the secret of death and O flower of fire), the Lincoln Center and Musikkollegium Winterthur (He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing), Miller Theatre, Crash Ensemble, Barbican Centre and Ensemble Musikfabrik (building a burning house), and Wigmore Hall (Tuxedo: Between Carnival and Lent).
Her first opera, The Knife of Dawn, was self-produced and premiered at the Roundhouse in 2016, receiving critical acclaim for its involving and claustrophobic representation of the incarceration of Guyanese political activist Martin Carter. A second production was presented at Royal Ballet and Opera in 2020 and a third staged at Dutch National Opera in 2026. Other performances of Hannah’s music have been given by Boston Symphony Orchestra, LA Phil, New York Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Klangforum Wien, and London Sinfonietta. Festival appearances include Aix-en-Provence, BBC Proms, Bang on a Can Long Play Festival, Berliner Festspiele, Borealis, Darmstädter Ferienkurse, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, New Music Dublin, Sonic Matter, Tanglewood Music Festival, Tectonics, TIME:SPANS, Warsaw Autumn, and Wien Modern.
Born in London in 1984, Hannah studied music at the University of Exeter before completing a master’s in composition at the Royal College of Music and a doctorate at Columbia University. Her music is published by Ricordi (Berlin).
For full details about Hannah and her work, please visit www.hannahkendall.co.uk
For further information about Hannah Kendall, please contact her agent, andrew@cloud9management.co.uk