Musician and composer Hannah Peel delves into her vast record collection to play music elevated by the use of an orchestra ensemble in a new series for BBC Radio Ulster. Speaking to The Impartial Reporter, Hannah, who lives in Co. Down but has family in Co. Fermanagh, explained what her new radio show is all about: “It’s called Hannah Peel’s Unfinished Symphony and it’s music from all the genres and eras that feature orchestral accompaniment, so be it big or small from large orchestral arrangements to even just elements like a horn section, or a solo violin if it’s a folk track. It covers everything really, from composers like Jóhann Jóhannsson to The Stades and Morricone to Roy Orbison. As long as it’s got an orchestral element in it, that warrants it for the show.”

Explaining that her show will be an insight into that world of music, Hannah added: “To me, what makes this really special right now is with everything we are all going through, just even talking about an orchestra and that act of playing together when most of our industry can’t even do that, unless it’s online, is really quite prominent so it’s really quite nice to be able to talk about something that we haven’t got right now.”

Noting that a lot of artists these days can’t afford to employ an orchestra, Hannah continued: “So a lot of their older tracks have big orchestral arrangements whereas now it’s related to somebody layering up a violin five or six times or with a cello, something to create that ensemble but on a cheaper scale.”

Hannah is both a singer-songwriter and a composer. “More recently I have been composing for film and TV more than I would be working on releasing records,” she shared, explaining that she has gone from being a session musician to creating records and now to scoring.

“I’ve just finished my first TV show called The Deceived which is set between Cambridge and Donegal, so that will be out later in the year we hope, everything going well,” said Hannah.

Talking about what inspires her composing, Hannah shared: “If I’m writing for an album I’m very much inspired by a few things, mostly to do with science and a sense of place. One of the records that came about a few years ago was called ‘Awake But Always Dreaming’, that was in association with Alzheimer’s research and it was looking at memory and how music affects memory and the things that we hold dear to us like songs we learnt at an early age stay with us to the very end through Dementia and Alzheimer’s. The album was based in that sound world.”

She continued: “The last full album that I did was to do with space and travel in space.”

“I guess I’m inspired by nature and place and how we fit as humans into that sphere,” Hannah added.

Hannah also presents on BBC Radio Three, on a show called Night Tracks.

“It is a late night music show that I do for a whole week once a month and it’s all kinds of contemporary classical or new classical or electronic music but for late night listening so it goes across a lot of genres, but as long as it has that feel of late night vibes then it’s suited,” she explained.

In 2019, Hannah was nominated for an Emmy award for her work on Game of Thrones. Commenting on her experience of attending the prestigious awards ceremony, she shared: “It was incredible. I feel really lucky to have been able to experience that and obviously with Game of Thrones being such a big show for Northern Ireland, it was lovely to go and represent that side of things as well. It’s a once in a lifetime experience and one I’ll never forget from getting hair and make-up done to going in a blacked out limo to getting there and arriving on the red carpet and seeing people that you recognised presenting and collecting awards. It’s fascinating and just a whole mind-boggling experience.”

Hannah Peel’s Unfinished Symphony begins on Sunday, April 5 at 4pm on BBC Radio Ulster and will also be available on BBC Sounds. Familiar acts such as Kate Bush and Joni Mitchell will sit alongside modernist composers such as A Winged Victory for the Sullen and Igor Stravinsky. As long as there’s strings, brass, woodwind (or all of the above), it could feature. The perfect Sunday afternoon playlist.

PLEASE NOTE

It is a tough time for our entire community and especially the business community. The Impartial Reporter is no different. We will continue to break important news on our website free of charge because it is important that we inform you especially at this crucial time in our history. However we also need your support so please pick up our weekly edition every Thursday in shops or subscribe to our page by page e-edition at https://www.impartialreporter.com/e_edition/ so that we can continue to be a voice for the people of this area. Thank you and stay safe.