Born in 1956, Piers Hellawell studied with fellow countrymen conductor and composer of contemporary classical music James Wood and composer Nicholas Maw. When only 24 he was appointed Chair of Composition at the Queen’s University of Belfast, where he taught for some years. From 2000 to 2003 he was also Gresham Professor of Music, a visiting post in the City of London.
His works have been commissioned, broadcast and performed all over the world, including at the 1989 and 1993 ISCM World Music days, the 1992 Lapland Festival, 1993 Antwerp European City of Culture and the 1997 Helsinki Biennale. British commissions include those from the BBC Proms, the Hilliard Ensemble, Schubert Ensemble of London and Stockholm Chamber Brass, with performances at numerous UK and overseas festivals. Other collaborators have included Michala Petri, Evelyn Glennie, Psappha, the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra in Finland, The RTÉ Vanbrugh String Quartet and Trio Mediaeval. In 1999, Inside Story was premiered at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts. The CD and other recent major works appeared in 2002 on the Metronome label, and it was nominated BBC Music Magazine CD of the Month.
The year 2002 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.
Piers Hellawell’s set for vocal ensemble, The Hilliard Songbook, which gave rise to the Hilliard Ensemble’s ECM award-winning album of that name in 1996, is, in the words of The Independent, "one of the most enduring of their many commissions". In 2004 the Hilliard’s 30th Anniversary was celebrated with the set opening in the Wigmore Hall. That same year Hellawell’s Cors de chasse received its world premiere at the Brighton Festival, given by Håkan Hardenberger, Jonas Bylund and the Philharmonia Orchestra, receiving its London premiere in the Southbank in 2006.
Sound Carvings from the Bell Foundry was premiered by Stockholm Chamber Brass in Norway and Ireland in 2006, at events to mark Hellawell’s 50th birthday. Hellawell continues to explore radical designs such as that in chamber music media for leading ensembles: Landscape with Portraits was premiered by Chamber Domaine at the 2004 Cheltenham Festival, while his second string quartet, the experimental design Driftwood on Sand, was released in 2007 on the CD Dogs and Wolves, Hellawell’s third disc on Metronome.
Another major work is a concerto for Robert Plane (clarinet) and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, which premiered at the 2008 Vale of Glamorgan Festival.
His works have been commissioned, broadcast and performed all over the world, including at the 1989 and 1993 ISCM World Music days, the 1992 Lapland Festival, 1993 Antwerp European City of Culture and the 1997 Helsinki Biennale. British commissions include those from the BBC Proms, the Hilliard Ensemble, Schubert Ensemble of London and Stockholm Chamber Brass, with performances at numerous UK and overseas festivals. Other collaborators have included Michala Petri, Evelyn Glennie, Psappha, the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra in Finland, The RTÉ Vanbrugh String Quartet and Trio Mediaeval. In 1999, Inside Story was premiered at the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts. The CD and other recent major works appeared in 2002 on the Metronome label, and it was nominated BBC Music Magazine CD of the Month.
The year 2002 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.
Piers Hellawell’s set for vocal ensemble, The Hilliard Songbook, which gave rise to the Hilliard Ensemble’s ECM award-winning album of that name in 1996, is, in the words of The Independent, "one of the most enduring of their many commissions". In 2004 the Hilliard’s 30th Anniversary was celebrated with the set opening in the Wigmore Hall. That same year Hellawell’s Cors de chasse received its world premiere at the Brighton Festival, given by Håkan Hardenberger, Jonas Bylund and the Philharmonia Orchestra, receiving its London premiere in the Southbank in 2006.
Sound Carvings from the Bell Foundry was premiered by Stockholm Chamber Brass in Norway and Ireland in 2006, at events to mark Hellawell’s 50th birthday. Hellawell continues to explore radical designs such as that in chamber music media for leading ensembles: Landscape with Portraits was premiered by Chamber Domaine at the 2004 Cheltenham Festival, while his second string quartet, the experimental design Driftwood on Sand, was released in 2007 on the CD Dogs and Wolves, Hellawell’s third disc on Metronome.
Another major work is a concerto for Robert Plane (clarinet) and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, which premiered at the 2008 Vale of Glamorgan Festival.
"Piers Hellawell […] is fast emerging as one of the leading composers of his generation."
(Richard Whitehouse for Gramophone)
(Richard Whitehouse for Gramophone)