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Updated - February 2012

2012

February 6th - Composer Residency with SHM..... Stuart is excited to be embarking on a year-long collaboration with the SHM Foundation as their composer-in-residence. The end goal will be the composition of a new zeitgeist-themed song cycle for premiere performance sometime in 2013, but the journey towards this - one of research and work-shopping and participating in the many and varied activities of the Foundation - will be a fascinating one. Watch this space and a separate blog for more developments.

January - Battery re-charging..... The new year and most of January is spent indulging in a bit of R&R Down Under. Meanwhile, Pin Sharp Music, or at least its premises, is expanding! The builders are in with picks and shovels, expanding the Archway Road basement space.

2011

December 18th - More Rosamunde Pilcher..... Stuart completes orchestration on another Pilcher classic for ZDF - "Ungezugelt ins Gluck" ("Unbridled Happiness") - before finally downing tools for the Christmas break.

December 6th - Camel-racing..... Hot on the heels of Qatar's Dream 2030 project, Stuart is commissioned to produce a suite of pieces of music for a new Qatari reality TV show. "The Badge of Al-Rayyan" features the exploits of competitive Qatari camel-trainers, culminating in a high-stakes camel race.

November 19th-24th - Qatar Dream 2030..... Stuart's ongoing project through October/November has been to compose and produce music for Qatar National Day again - this time for the beautifully-conceived Dream 2030 series of fifteen shorts featuring the children of Qatar boarding a Fast Train to the Future and participating in their dream careers. With the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra delivering the goods once more, Stuart composes and masterminds the production of just short of two hours' new music for the project, covering a range of colourful music styles.

November 8th - Further talks with SHM Foundation..... Stuart meets with Anna and Henrietta again at SHM, along with some key people from a prestigious London concert venue. Watch this space for developments....!

October 21st - Long-awaited Violin Concerto performance..... After last-minute cancellation last December, Stuart's Violin Concerto finally enjoys its second performance. Even in its reduced orchestration, it's very much like meeting up with a much-loved old friend! Paul Barrett shines with his virtuosity in the soloist's role once again, and Andy Morley and the St Paul's Sinfonia accompany him with great sensitivity at St Alfege, Greenwich. A really thrilling climax to Stuart's year-long collaboration with the orchestra. Don't want to wait another 6 years for performance number 3!

October 12th - The Last Belle - premiere!..... After 14 years of blood, sweat and tears (and more than a few production babies), director Neil Boyle finally unleashes his completed animated masterpiece "The Last Belle" on his cast and crew, featuring Stuart's colourful orchestral score recorded in Slovakia in August. It will make its public premiere at the BFI London Film Festival this month, screening at the BFI National Film Theatre on the Southbank on October the 18th and 23rd, before heading to other festivals including Bradford and Paris.

October 5th - Gin & Dry at Raindance Film Festival..... Oscar Plewes' bittersweet comedy "Gin & Dry" features tonight at the London's celebrated Raindance Film Festival, screening at the Apollo Picadilly Circus. It has also effortlessly crossed the pond and is an official Selection at the prestigious Austin Film Festival in Texas later in October.

October 2nd and 10th - Completion of the "This September" saga..... Stuart completes and records the scores for Parts 3 and 4 of Giles Foster's sweeping romantic epic "This September", starring Charles Dance, Eileen Atkins and Rebecca Night. The London Telefilmonic Orchestra are on fine form as usual at Phoenix Sound, Pinewood Studios.

September 13th - KFC "Shrimpo"..... A swashbuckling orchestral score is required for the marauding pirates that feature in KFC's "Captain Shrimpo" advert for the Egyptian market, which Stuart has fun delivering.

August 31st - Recording The Last Belle..... A fabulous day of recording is had in Bratislava with David Hernando and his orchestra, bringing Stuart's score for The Last Belle to life. The musicians are on fine form and director Neil Boyle is looking forward to his gem of a film making a hit at the BFI London Film Festival in October.

August 29th - Pilcher number 100!..... Orchestration is completed on the season's second Rosamunde Pilcher saga for ZDF, and the 100th in the history of the long-running and successful series - "Der gestohlene Sommer" (The Stolen Summer).

August 26th - IKEA Happy To Bed - radio..... Stuart follows up the TV mnemonic with a skiffly soundtrack for the radio ads in Ikea's continuing "Happy To Bed" campaign.

August 13th - IKEA Happy To Bed - TV..... Ikea's new ad campaign for its bedroom furniture presents the idea of going "happy to bed", and Stuart creates the quirky mnemonic to accompany the nightly ad signalling to the viewers it's time to wind down. On air on Channel 4 at about 10.30pm each night.

August 4th - THE LAST BELLE..... Stuart is thrilled to complete the music score for a jaw-droppingly brilliant animated short film "The Last Belle" from director Neil Boyle (whose credits incude Roger Rabbit, Space Jam and The Jungle Book 2). Recounting the perils and pitfalls of an internet blind date, hand-drawn with brilliant detail and humour, this is animation at its old-fashioned finest. It's already been accepted into the London and Paris film festivals and plans are in motion to record the orchestral score live - more details to follow.

July 31st - New season of Rosamunde Pilcher films..... A welcome return to orchestrating the first of the season's ever-popular Pilcher TV movies. "Verlobt, verliebt, verwirrt" (Engaged, In Love, Confused) continues the long-running series, to be aired in the autumn.

July 25th - Soooo Money Supermarket!..... Not normally known for his lead-guitar skills, Stuart dazzles with an 80s-tastic anthem that wouldn't have been out of place on the Top Gun soundtrack, for a 30-second radio spot in Money Supermarket's new campaign. Narrated by Patrick Stewart, it's on your radios nationwide already!

July 21st - Cordonui ident..... Stuart draws on all of his Spanish heritage to compose music for a Cordonui sponsorship logo for the European market, complete with flamenco guitars and castanets....

July 11th - The Pimms Summer Party continues!..... A new arrangement of the Liberty Bell march, produced by Stuart, accompanies a second version of the new Pimms campaign. Bish bash bosh...!

June 20th - W11 Opera Anniversary Party..... The Louise T Blouin Centre in W11 plays host to a colourful gathering of around 500, all of whom have played a part in the phenomenal W11 Opera over the course of its forty years. The evening culminates with a semi-staged performance of the final scene of their most recent production - Stuart's "Rain Dance" (listen to a clip here!) - with about three quarters of the original cast of 85 in attendance and taking part with the composer at the piano. It's a thrilling and happy performance, with the enthusiastic crowd demanding (and getting) an encore! W11 is in rude health and is sure to go from strength to strength as it enters its 5th decade.

June 3rd - Talks with SHM Foundation..... Stuart meets with Anna Kydd and Henrietta Moore at the SHM Foundation's Holborn offices, to hatch plans for a new concert commission. Very exciting ideas thrown in for discussion - watch this space for more developments!

May 31st - Qatar and UNESCO..... Stuart assists Mark Strickson and the Rock Wallaby team on the music for Qatar's pitch for candidature to UNESCO's World Heritage committee.

May 26th - Dynamo Power-Active!..... Stuart composes music for a new Dynamo/Ariel commercial (for Kuala Lumpur music house Wasp), featuring a string quartet and one of the lead violins of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra. On Asian TV screens soon!

May 20th - Buster and Borzage in south London..... St Paul's Sinfonia gives the world premiere of Stuart's newly commissioned score to the classic Buster Keaton short "One Week". It's a sensational performance, with not just pinpoint accuracy on the synchronisation but terrific musicality all round. This is followed by a brilliant performance of Stuart's earlier "silent" score to the Borzage feature-length romance "Lucky Star"(1929), capturing all of its emotion and drama. Conductor Andy Morley is the hero of the night. Note to self (and to the orchestra) for future performances though - do them in winter! ('tis very hard to darken a church at 7.30 in late May sufficiently to be able to project a good strong image...!) The orchestra next tackle Stuart's Violin Concerto (hear clips on the showreel page) on October 21st at St Alfege, Greenwich, postponed from December.

May 9th - "HAWK" soundtrack scores 4.5...out of 4...! ..... Atlanta-based shakefire.com marks the Hawk soundtrack album with a grade of A+ and a score of 4.5 out of 4... doesn't get much better than that! Reveiwer AJ Garcia says "...you can truly appreciate Hancock's genius here... Hancock supplies a massively large scale sound that could go toe to toe with many of the more familiar names in the business. I highly suggest checking it out. Enjoy." Read the full article here.

May 4th - Join the Pimms summer party!..... Campaign reports the launch of Mother's new Pimms TV ad, featuring a 'campaign bus', affectionate snapshots of the British and their summer antics, and music produced by Stuart (an arrangement for Siren/Factory of Sousa's Liberty Bell march - the Monty Python one!). Read the article here.

April 25th - "HAWK" is "Suite of the Week"..... Following hot on the heels of several great reviews for Stuart's Hawk soundtrack, it proudly becomes the featured "suite" of the week on Scorenotes.com, a site run by well-respected film music journalist and member of the International Film Music Critics Association, Tom Hoover.

April 10th - More money-couldn't-buy "HAWK" soundtrack reviews.....

"It's a major stylistic leap up for British composer Stuart Hancock, who last impressed on Movie Score Media with his hard-edged martial arts music for UNDERGROUND and BODYGUARD: A NEW BEGINNING. Now Hancock enters far more delicate mystical lands previously traveled by Howard Shore, yet conjures a similar feeling of enchantment with his own stylistic voice. It's a pretty rare feat for a 38-minute project to get the kind of lavish music that conjures volumes-worth of ancient make-believe history, its melodic dimensions impressively depicted by the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra and a choir called Serendipity. If anything, the only regret of HAWK is that there wasn't more of it for Hancock to score" [April Soundtrack Picks, Daniel Schweiger, Film Music Magazine, April 2011]

"Stuart Hancock's score for Hawk is a thing of pure beauty...There are powerful, beautiful themes as well as a number of eerie, atmospheric tracks, and as a whole this is destined to become a classic score... In essence, this soundtrack neatly encapsulates everything that got me interested in soundtracks in the first place. Hancock is a bloody genius...and I'm enjoying listening to him blossom. 10/10" [Darren Rea, SciFi Online, April 2011]

"This score...is at once gripping and beautiful, even haunting in places. It is the sort of score that would fit well with a space opera like Star Wars, in a sword-and-sandals epic, in a fantasy world fitting of Tolkien, or even in a horror movie. Warm, rich undertones of strings and low brass lay the foundation for a tale of mystery and of possible menace, while intricate vocal lines convey different emotions throughout the score. Violins and woodwinds weave their magic to illustrate a land that is awe inspiring and frightening... I had every expectation met with this soundtrack, and more. It is a delight to listen to. 5/5" [Caleb Leland, Shadowlocked, April 7th 2011]

April 7th - Great "HAWK" soundtrack reviews begin to materialise..... A brief google search unearths three very positive reviews of Stuart's recent album release already, all from across the pond:

"Stuart Hancock has delivered a fine piece of work here with Hawk....There is a nice, soothing flow to Hancock's score; an enjoyable listen which, despite being very single-minded in tempo and excitement, succeeds in transferring its emotion positively towards the listener....Hawk is a moody piece of work; something of which Hancock should be proud, and film score fans should investigate." [George Pacheco, Boston Examiner, April 7th 2011]

"Its gorgeous orchestral and choral score brings to mind the music from well-known feature films like the Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings franchises and holds its own very well in comparison to such giants....lush orchestrations, very dramatic, and tending often towards the dark side of fantasy....you will enjoy this short gem of a soundtrack. Hancock has done a wonderful job with it" [Ann Wells, Fandomania, April 6th 2011]

"You would never expect to hear the sound and production quality of this score in a short film, but that's exactly what you get. You get a score with feature film qualities, grand orchestration and lots of atmosphere....The score has moments of beauty with great choral work....This is a score I would never have come across so I'm really happy I got to experience it. It's truly wonderful to see a short film's score getting a decent release like this. Especially since the quality is so superb, which is rare. This is definitely a score worth walking into blindly. The journey is worth it just to experience the reveal of the "The Rising Soul (End Credits)". That is one beautiful track." [Kaya Savas, Film Music Media, April 5th 2011]

April 6th - "HAWK" soundtrack released..... Stuart is delighted to announce MovieScore Media's release of his fourth motion picture soundtrack album. Mikael Carlsson describes the Hawk score's "dark and mesmerizing themes...beautiful harmonic language and great, colourful orchestrations" that give Hawk "a very serious sense of magic", brought to life by a starry line-up of musicians that includes the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, Welsh choir Serendipity and former Royal Harpist Catrin Finch. It's out on iTunes to download now, or pre-order your CDs, complete with beautiful album artwork, credits, choir lyrics and Q-and-A with the composer via MovieScore Media.

April 5th - Film Score Monthly interview published..... On the eve of the release of Stuart's fourth soundtrack album (Hawk), read Johny Menjivar's interview with Stuart here, published online today, in which Stuart relives the trials and tribulations of composing the score to "Underground" - his first album!

April 1st - Launch of BBC Radio 4 Extra..... Stuart completes work on a major re-branding campaign for the BBC - Radio 7 re-launching as Radio 4 Extra, with a new musical identity of logos and musical beds. Stuart joins his Mcasso colleagues at a launch party at the BBC Council, with "the switch" scheduled for 6am the following morning. Tune into Radio 4 Extra on your DABs for an entertaining blend of drama and comedy.

March 26th - Roundhouse world premiere of Stuart's "Folksong Suite"..... With the Voices Now Festival at the Roundhouse already in full swing, the splendid Holst Singers, conducted by Stephen Layton take to the Main Space stage presenting a folk-inspired programme that includes the first performance of Stuart's new "Folksong Suite". The suite is brilliantly-performed and well-received, consisting of unaccompanied SATB arrangements of three English folk tunes - (1) the romantically lyrical "Young and Single Sailor", (2) the haunting "Lover's Ghost" and (3) a galumphing and rumbustious (and slightly rude) version of "The Devil and The Farmer's Wife". Nicola Wookey is brilliant on the soprano solo in the 2nd song. Enjoy the performance of the 3rd song here, thanks to the recording made by the Roundhouse team.

March 25th - HAWK at 20th Century Fox..... The mini-epic gets another outing at 20th Century Fox, Soho Square, London; in attendance are musicians who contributed to Stuart's score, including soprano soloist Anna Snow and Serendipity's Sylvia Strand. A soundtrack release is planned for early April.

March 2nd - Voices Now - The Ambassador's Reception..... Stuart is delighted to attend a drinks reception hosted by the Latvian Ambassador, His Excellency Mr Eduards Stiprais, along with members of the Holst Singers, the Roundhouse organisers and other representative participants in the Voices Now Festival, to mark the launch of the choral festival set to open later in the month. Stephen Layton and the Holst Singers will premiere Stuart's "Folksong Suite" at the Roundhouse on March 26th alongside pieces by Holst, Vaughan Williams and Baltic composers Tormis, Esenvalds and Miskinis.

March 1st - HAWK premieres at BAFTA..... After what seems like an eternity of post-production, and something like eight years since Stuart signed up for scoring duties, Capture's epic short "Hawk" receives its hotly-anticipated world premiere screening at the home of British film, BAFTA. It's an exciting glitzy event with director MJ McMahon and producer Matthew Jones on good form, and with the entire cast (including Jaz the hawk) and many of the crew in attendance, and an invited audience of about 400. The movie looks stunning and sounds large and magnificent, benefitting from an expert dub by Nigel Squibbs, with Stuart's score coming across in all its symphonic glory. Discussions have begun with MovieScore Media for a possible soundtrack release - watch this space! Watch the movie's trailer here, and catch up with Capture and the progress of Hawk on its Facebook Page. A further screening is planned at 20th Century Fox for March 26th, and a Welsh premiere at Glyndwr University on March 31st.

February 28th - Roundhouse choir piece completed..... Stuart puts the finishing touches to the final movement and delivers his "Folksong Suite", comissioned by Making Music for the Voices Now Festival at the Roundhouse in late March. The Holst Singers, conducted by the celebrated Stephen Layton, have already started rehearsing the first two songs, and the composer looks forward to hearing them in rehearsal in the coming weeks!

February 21st - The Karrilon Trio in Epping..... Sue FitzGerald, Alex Birchall and Marcus Andrews continue their concert series with a performance at Epping Music Society, with their signature piece, Stuart's "Flight Paths", as the finale.

February 4th - "Upgrade" with the Daily Mail..... Campaign describes it as the launch of the Daily Mail's biggest advertising campaign in 10 years, and the opening ad of the series features Stuart's newly composed music (signed off today). Set to air on our TV screens from Sunday Feb 6th, see the ad on the showreel page.

January 21st - Twitter!..... Stuart now tweets! Follow him here - @StuartHancock1.

January 21st - A another review of "Rain Dance"..... Stuart's W11 Opera picks up another review, this time from John Allison in "Opera", who talks of "tapping into the African subject matter while avoiding any Lion King-style cliches" mentioning "an especially good chorus about the baobab...everything matched well with the libretto by Donald Sturrock...the performance came to catchy life"; but, best of all is to hear that Mr Allison's "research assistant (and five-year-old son) was still singing the songs several days later, suggesting that Rain Dance has enough appeal to deserve further outings".

January 17th - Roundhouse choir project..... Stuart meets up at the Camden Roundhouse with Matthew Swann, festival producer of Voices Now, a week-long celebration of all things vocal at the stunning venue in late March. Plans are discussed for a suite of choral arrangements of English folksongs to be performed by the fantastic Holst Singers (conducted by Stephen Layton) on the saturday of the festival (March 26th). Stuart's suite will share the program with Holst, Vaughan Williams and Baltic composers Veljo Tormis and Eriks Esenvalds. Get your tickets online, or by calling the box office on 0844 482 8008.

January 16th - "Rain Dance" DVD screening..... Freshly back from a well-earned break in Jamaica with Danny and the guys from Bad Like Yaz (including a beach party with Mr Usain Bolt), Stuart heads back to Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, this time to the cinema, which hosts a joyous reunion of the cast and crew of W11 to view the film made of his opera "Rain Dance". Fond memories flood back, and the cast do a good amount of singing and dancing along in aisles.

2010

December 17th - Violin Concerto (almost) gets its second performance!..... Following a great rehearsal on the 15th with Paul Barrett (violin) and St Pauls Sinfonia (Andy Morley conducting), everything's in place for a repeat performance of Stuart's epic Violin Concerto in Deptford, this time with an orchestration reduced from the enormous forces employed for the 2005 Southbank Sinfonia premiere. Unfortunately, Paul comes down with flu and can barely move, let alone tackle a monster concerto, so sadly the performance is postponed - hopefully to be rescheduled sometime in the ochestra's 2011/12 season. Listen to clips of the premiere performance on the Showreel Page. And thus draws to a close a stupidly busy few months, and the start of a well-earned Christmas break.

December 10th - Pilchers 4 and 5..... Stuart completes orchestrations on the final Rosamunde Picher movies of the season - "Herzenfragen" and "Sonntagskinder" - set to be broadcast on ZDF in January.

December 3rd-5th - "Rain Dance" WORLD PREMIERE..... Curtain up on W11's "Rain Dance" at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith. The costumes and set and lighting look tremendous, and every one of the 82-strong cast give it their all to the five exhausting performances in three days. The whole show is a runaway success - Susan Elkin (of The Stage) being "blown away" (read her full review here.) After a long but hugely enjoyable term of rehearsals and putting it all together, the following monday is thoroughly depressing without it....

November 28th - "Rain Dance" band call and sitzprobe..... With a fraught week of orchestration (including on the plane to and from Bratislava!), Stuart completes the band score for his opera "Rain Dance". The brilliant 10-piece band assemble and bring to colourful life, later joined by the assembled young cast to sing it all through. Next stop, Riverside Studios for performance week!

November 21st - "The Birdlife of Qatar" score recording..... Having completed composition of the score for the Qatar National Day documentaries, Stuart flies out to Slovakia to record the music with the brilliant Bratislava Symphony Orchestra. The soaring strings match the soaring birds on-screen, with a lush and colourful western/Arabic fusion soundtrack. Feel the scorching heat of summer in Doha on the Showreel Page.

November 2nd - "This September", part 2..... Stuart oversees the recording of the emotional score he has worked on for part 2 of "This September". Music highlights include fights, a tumultuous storm and a tearful reunion scene played beautifully by lead actors Charles Dance and Eleonore Weisberger. Hopefully things are in place to work on music for parts 3 and 4 in the summer of 2011.

October 21st - "Gin & Dry" cinema premiere..... Mac and Matt of Capture (formerly 11:22 Entertainment), together with writer/director Oscar Plewes present their wonderful short film "Gin & Dry" to the world at 20th Century Fox, London, featuring Stuart's score music. See the chase sequence on the Showreel Page., but in the meantime follow the fortunes of the film on its Facebook page and its beautifully designed website.

October 20th - "No Boundaries" for HSBC..... Stuart has his music signed off for one of HSBC's latest television adverts, for JWT and Ridley Scott Associates. Soon to appear on your TV screens and on the Showreel Page.

October 15th - "This September", part 1..... Back to Pinewood to work with the London Telefilmonic Orchestra, this time recording the score to part one of the Giles Foster-directed romantic saga "This September", which Stuart has been working on. The movie, depicting the trials and tribulations of the Aird family, is set in the spectacular Scottish Highlands and features a star-studded cast that includes the magnificent Charles Dance, Eileen Atkins, Rebecca Night and Michael Brandon (of Dempsey & Makepeace fame).

October 6th - Next Pilcher..... Stuart orchestrates and records musicians for the third Rosamunde Pilcher of the season "Flugel der Liebe".

October 2nd-5th - Off to Doha..... Stuart flees the dust of building work for the dusty (and hot!) Qatar capital, Doha, where he meets Lyndal Davies and her team from RockWallaby Productions. Lyndal is directing some films for Qatar National Day this year, including a documentary on the birdlife of Qatar, which Stuart will be providing music for. He also spends some quality time immersing himself in Arabic music with music supervisor for National Day, charming pianist and composer Hisham Niaz. Fine cuts of the films to be delivered in early November for Stuart to begin work on.

September 20th - Demolition..... Building work starts. Not good, especially when it coincides neatly with Stuart's busiest ever period of work. Kitchen and bathroom are destroyed to treat dry rot. Working kitchen and bathroom ultimately not reinstated at Hancock Towers until December 9th!

September 8th - Auditions for W11..... Big excitement at St James' Church, London W11, as auditions get underway for Stuart's youth opera "Rain Dance". Lots of good vocal talent on show, including the splendid tenor Jonathan Antoine who is ultimately cast is the villainous lion Tau. Elizabeth Banes, Miranda Ostler and Alexa Tamsett take on Roli, Mandisa and Koni respectively. The start of a wonderful creative term to culminate in the December performances! See the W11 Opera website for more details.

August 23rd - New season of Rosamunde Pilchers..... Stuart orchestrates and records on the first two movies ("Wenn das Herz zerbricht" and "Lords lugen nicht") of the new season of the ever-popular Rosamunde Pilcher series for ZDF television.

August 21st - Bad Like Yaz..... Danny, Sapna, Viv, Tariq, Clemens.... together they are the awesome band Bad Like Yaz, who started life in Stuart's basement studio and are now playing a scintillating gig tonight at the packed-out Miller, London Bridge. Check 'em out on Facebook.

August 2nd - 1916 at Abbey Road..... Stuart is at Abbey Road assisting on the mix of the 1916 "concept album" songs. Engineer Jonathan Allen helms proceedings. Check out the 1916 website or Facebook page for more details.

July 24th/25th - WOMAD..... Off to Charlton Park, Wiltshire, to soak up some good weather and world music at this year's WOMAD. Great chilled atmosphere, and some wonderful performances - memorable highlights being La Brassbanda from Bavaria, the living legend that is Rolf Harris, and the rather unnerving but rather fantastic Inuit throat-singing of Tanya Tagaq - see her on Youtube.

July 19th - Studio upgrade..... Yellow Technology's Antony Conner is here for the day, performing a major upgrade of the studio. Including a new all-singing-dancing Intel Mac and Logic 9 to play with.

July 14th - 1916 gets the clap..... Stuart spends a riotous morning recording singers in the studio for his "Clap Song" for 1916 The Musical. Vocal coach Jamie Anderson oversees the filthy vocal stylings of Fiona Thompson and Lucy Allenby; see the musical's website for updates on the progress of the show.

June 11th - One Night In Turin soundtrack review: "This is wall to wall, grade A quality material."..... He shoots.... he scores....! A perfect 10/10. On the inaugural day of this year's World Cup, Stuart is delighted to notch up a fantastic review for the recently released soundtrack to football documentary "One Night In Turin". Darren Rea writes, "There's something about this score that captures, for me, everything that's great about movie soundtracks. This is an emotional score that should be listened to as loud as you think you can get away with without annoying the neighbours....this soundtrack captures, for me, a modern age of Hollywood music which is very sadly missing in a lot of today's compositions." Review Graveyard

The movie is out on DVD, and the soundtrack is available from MovieScore Media featuring a tremendous performance from the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra and a scintillating new rendition of the immortal Nessun Dorma by tenor Sean Ruane.

May 30th - Cathy Fox recital in Fulham..... Violinist Cathy Fox puts on a splendid and varied recital with Stuart at the keys. Highlights include a breathtaking "Lark Ascending" and the completely riotous "Variations on Yankee Doodle" as a finale.

May 20th - Juice bring "Rain Dance" to life..... The trustees and crew of W11 Opera assemble at the company manager's house to hear, for the first time, a sung-through performance of the first full draft of Stuart's new children's opera "Rain Dance". Anna, Sarah and Kerry (the ladies of Juice) sing all the parts magnificently with the composer at the piano, all met with a very enthusiastic response from the audience, including stage director Ben Occhipinti and newly-hired music director Philip Sunderland.

May 11th - "One Night In Turin" unleashed..... Stuart attends the theatrical premier of "One Night In Turin" at a packed Empire Leicester Square, followed by live Q&A from Newcastle. This and subsequent screenings sell well, so the Empire extend the film's run into a second and third week. The DVD and soundtrack (courtesy of MovieScore Media) are released at the end of the month.

May 9th - The Karrilon Trio in Chiswick..... The trio continue their concert series as part of the "Blenheim Concerts" once again performing Stuart's "Flight Paths" as their finale.

April 3rd - Recording "ONE NIGHT IN TURIN" score in Slovakia..... Director James Erskine and New Black Films bring Stuart on board to create a dramatic orchestral soundtrack for something pretty unique - a live World Cup football match! "One Night In Turin", narrated by Gary Oldman, tells the emotional story of the redemption of disgraced English football through the heroic exploits of Bobby Robson, Gazza, Lineker et al, culminating with the dramatic semi-final defeat to Beckenbauer's West Germany at the 1990 World Cup. Stuart has the privilege once again to work with David Hernando and the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra to record the score, including a new recording of Puccini's famous aria "Nessun Dorma" with a powerful vocal from tenor Sean Ruane. The movie is set to enjoy a cinema release prior to this year's World Cup, opening at the Empire Leicester Square on May 11th and at selected cinemas up and down the country. See the movie's website for more information about the film and where to see it.

March - Germany and football!..... Work continues on the Rosamunde Pilcher series with "Love on the Horizon" for ZDF, and Stuart begins composing on "One Night In Turin" (see more above!)

February 25th - 1916 The Musical..... Stuart is delighted to be taken on board as a co-composer for the ambitious new musical "1916" - a dramatic account of the Irish Republican uprising of the same year. Stuart looks forward to working with David Christmas, librettist Simon Humphreys and creative producer Sean Ferris on this exciting musical journey. Check out the show's website for more details.

February 14th - A second outing for "Choir Straits"..... Following its exhilarating premiere at the Wigmore Hall, Bath Camerata deliver a truly brilliant second performance of Stuart and Kit Hesketh-Harvey's cantata "Choir Straits". The singing is sublime under Nigel Perrin's baton, and the laughs come thick and fast in the splendidly refurbished Rook Lane Chapel in Frome, Somerset.

January 22nd - W11 Opera dates confirmed.....See the W11 Opera website for more details...... It is now confirmed that Stuart's opera (composition of which is now well underway!) is to be staged at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, on December 4th and 5th 2010, with a community performance on December 3rd. The opera bears a working title of "Rain Dance" and a top-notch libretto by Donald Sturrock and will be an entertaining take on some African folk tales. Meanwhile, Stuart continues his ZDF orchestration work with "Wherever you go" and the Latin-influenced Lindstrohm story "Midsummer Tango".

2009

December 17th - Choir Straits WORLD PREMIERE..... The day of Stuart's Wigmore Hall "debut" finally arrives! Kit and the Widow are on blistering form in their Christmas concert, matched by a truly splendid first performance of Stuart's cantata "Choir Straits" (to Kit's lyrics) given by the Bath Camerata with Simon Trist at the helm, singing to a sell-out crowd. Gratifyingly, plans are afoot for a repeat performance in Somerset on February 14th 2010, at Rook Lane Chapel, Frome.

November 23rd - Slovakia and Qatar..... Stuart has the great pleasure of working again with EMR director James Erskine, this time on "Written in the Sand", one of a series of documentaries for Serious Pictures for Qatar National Day, following world-famous milliner Pip Hackett on a whirlwind tour of Qatari fashion and tradition. The score involves a return trip for Stuart to record with the wonderful Bratislava Symphony Orchestra in the Slovakian capital, whilst incorporating authentic recordings of Qatari instrumentalists. Clips of the colourful epic score can be heard on the BSO website, on the showreel page

November - More ZDF Orchestration..... Stuart's TV movie orchestration work continues with "My False Fiancé" and "A Love in Doubt" for ZDF.

October - A new version of "Bitter Suite"..... The Kingston Philharmonia, who performed Stuart's Lucky Star Suite in March, commission a reduced orchestration of his Bitter Suite to be performed once again with the vocal talents of the Juice Vocal Ensemble at their children's concert on December 5th. Hear clips from the LPhO's 2006 premiere on the Showreel Page.

September 16th - A Wigmore Hall WORLD PREMIERE announced - December 17th..... Kit & The Widow confirm that Stuart's choir cantata (to Kit's words) will receive its world premiere at London's famous Wigmore Hall, no less. Fight to get tickets - they're selling out fast! December 17th!

September - More ZDF orchestration..... "Return to Rose Abbey", "Summer of Emotions" and "Let There Be Love" continue the perennially popular Rosamunde Pilcher and Inga Lindstrohm series for ZDF.

August - "The Four Seasons", parts 3 and 4..... The sweeping saga, starring Tom Conti, Michael York, Frank Finlay et al, concludes in fine style with "Winter" and "Spring". Stuart completes the final two epic scores for the Giles Foster-directed four-parter, with some more scintillating recordings at Pinewood with the London Telefilmonic Orchestra. See a clip on the Showreel Page.

July - Gin & Dry..... Stuart begins work on a gem of a short film - "Gin & Dry" - for talented writer/director Oscar Plewes. A bittersweet story of subversive care-home residents, Plewes is a real find for 11:22 Entertainment (the boys who'll be bringing you "Hawk".....)

June 26th - "BODYGUARD: A NEW BEGINNING" SOUNDTRACK RELEASED....
"With Bodyguard, Hancock proves that his work is up there with the best that Hollywood has to offer. Expect great things from him in the future. 9/10" Review Graveyard

Following hot on the heels of the Underground soundtrack release comes Stuart's equally powerful score to Chee Keong Cheung's action epic Bodyguard: A New Beginning. The soundtrack is available from MovieScore Media and iTunes, and the movie is out on DVD.

June 9th - "UNDERGROUND" SOUNDTRACK RELEASED.....
MovieScore Media unleash Stuart's searing score to "Underground" on CD and download, to coincide with the movie's release on DVD. The soundtrack garners some fantastic reviews:

"It's fabulous, largely because of its powerful, driving main theme, which dominates the score. It's so rare to find a really memorable main theme in films these days, so when you find one like this, it's precious indeed." - Screensounds

Available from, amongst others, MovieScore Media and iTunes.

June 4th/5th - Norfolk..... Stuart escapes the big smoke and heads to Norfolk with the dog, meeting up with Kit Hesketh-Harvey to get their creative juices flowing. Enjoyable brain-storming with Kit for their choral collaboration (for a possible December premiere), and exhilarating rabbit-catching outings for Sid ensue....

April 22nd - Operation Smile..... For RAPP UK, Stuart completes music for an emotive new campaign for charitable organisation "Operation Smile" - raising awareness and funds for children born with cleft lips. See the ad on the Showreel Page.

April 1st - Pin Sharp Music Ltd..... Stuart incorporates himself! Pin Sharp - his new limited company - begins trading.

March 14th - Lucky Star in Kingston..... Maestro Lev Parikian once again gives the Symphonic Suite from Lucky Star a fine performance, this time with the Kingston Philharmonia. The composer finds himself programmed as the concert finale to some illustrious names from the world of film music (Danny Elfman, Leonard Bernstein and Max Steiner)

February 12th - A new arrival..... The studio bids a warm welcome to Sidney! Sid is a rescue dog from the Dogs' Trust - he's a handsome 18-month-old lurcher (greyhound cross) and is wonderful company for those epic (otherwise solitary) composing spells... Also a fearsome guard-dog if provoked (not!)

January/February - More ZDF orchestration..... Work is completed on the new feature films "Love in Autumn", "September in Eriksberg", and "The Legacy of Granlunda", honing the scores' lyrical orchestral style in collaboration with Richard Blackford. Stuart also does some preparatory work on source music cues for the imminent third instalment of the sweeping epic "The Four Seasons".

January 26th - W11 plans..... Music director of W11 Opera for Young People Philip Colman meets up with Stuart on the Southbank to discuss the finer details of his proposed opera. Everything is in place for work to commence on writing the show with librettist Donald Sturrock, sheduled for a London premiere at Riverside Studios in December 2010. Watch this space for updates....!

January 13th - Commission for the Bath Camerata with Kit Hesketh-Harvey..... Stuart meets up with Gerry Mattock and Beryl Calver-Jones once again, erstwhile commissioners of his "Insomniac" for solo cello, premiered last March, to cement plans for a new exciting choral commission for the Bath Camerata. Also in attendance are Nigel Perrin of the Camerata, and fantastic lyricist Kit Hesketh-Harvey (of Kit & The Widow fame). Plans are hatched for brainstorming creative Norfolk weekends with Kit in March/April and for a potential London premiere for December 2009 at the prestigious Cadogan Hall.

2008

December 6th - King Arthur Suite..... After nearly ten years of gathering dust on the shelf, Stuart's first ever concert commission gets its second performance! Originally written for Redbridge Music School in 1998/9, the Bloomsbury Woodwind Ensemble rise magnificently to the challenge of Stuart's picturesque "King Arthur Suite" at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, giving a thrilling performance under the direction of Shea Lolin.

November 28th - "Hanna's Fest"..... Stuart oversees the recordings for his score to this bittersweet Lindstroem feature that will have audiences reaching for their hankies....

November 6th - "The Four Seasons", Part 2..... Stuart completes work on the score for Autumn in the continuing epic "The Four Seasons" and is back at Pinewood conducting the London Telefilmonic Orchestra in the recording. The saga is directed by Giles Foster and parts 1 and 2 are set to hit European TV screens on Boxing Day.

October 1st - Bond Scratchcards..... With "Quantum of Solace" on the horizon and James Bond fever gripping the nation once again, Stuart gets in on a little of the action, providing music for the Lotto 007 scratchcard commercials.

August 31st - Britain's favourite choir!.....The gentlemen of Serendipity (see entry for July 17th 2007), a.k.a. "Only Men Aloud!" sensationally win the BBC's Last Choir Standing show and officially become Britain's favourite choir (and land a 7-figure recording contract with Universal). Congrats to Tim, Andy and the boys - Stuart feels glad to have got his recording in with them before they got dead famous, and wonders whether they'll charge as little as they did for the Hawk recording next time round....?!

August/September - New ZDF movies..... Stuart completes orchestration on the latest ZDF movie "Melodie der Liebe", a touching Rosamunde Pilcher classic, and begins work on "Herzen im Wind" and the charming Lindstrohm take on Romeo and Juliet - "Rasmus and Johanna". He also begins work on part 1 (Summer) of the sweeping adaptation of the Pilcher family saga "The Four Seasons", starring the British screen legends Michael York, Juliet Mills, Frank Finlay and Tom Conti.

July 11th - Daisy Mutronix..... a further Clarks' Yotoys commercial is scored by Stuart for Population Music.

July 3rd - A return visit to Brno..... Stuart finds himself in the Czech Republic once again, coming away with some sensational recordings of "Variations on a Heroic Theme" and two of the three movements of his double flute concerto, with flautists Sue FitzGerald and Rupert Widdows.

June 29th - "The World Unseen"..... Stuart completes work assisting Richard Blackford on the score to the beautiful multi-award-winning South African feature film "The World Unseen", directed by Shamim Sarif and starring Bollywood beauties Lisa Ray and Sheetal Sheth.

May 18th - Cotswold Children's Choir..... with a final hurrah at the BBC Radio 3 youth choir competition in Cardiff, Stuart bids a very fond farewell to the Cotswold Children's Choir, stepping down as their accompanist after a fantastic year and a half of working with them.

May 3rd and 4th - Orchestration in New York City..... Stuart crossed the pond for the bank holiday weekend, catching up with some old friends and attending Scott Smalley's film orchestration seminar.

April 25th-30th - Completion of "Bodyguard" score..... With a year's experience in the bag since "Underground", Stuart launches into the Archway Road studio recording of musicians for the approved "Bodyguard: A New Beginning" score. 19 musicians come and go, contributing to an epic score - a relentless 75 minutes' worth of full-throttle music - a touch of personal family breavement in the middle of it all makes it a rather overwhelming few days.

April 17th - W11 Opera for Young People..... Together with librettist and partner-in-crime Donald Sturrock, Stuart makes a presentation to the committee of renowned children's opera company W11, aiming to become their next commissioned composer. After their two weeks of deliberation, Stuart wins the commission! ...so he will be following in the footsteps of composers as illustrious as George Fenton, Cecilia McDowall, Karl Jenkins and the late great film composer Michael Kamen with a new children's opera set to be staged in December 2010.

April 10th - Weetos - Mission Impossible!..... Stuart's music is chosen for the Aardman animation Weetos commercial that is set to blaze onto your TV screen in the coming weeks (and onto the showreel page!)

March 16th - The Brno Philharmonic..... Stuart travels to the beautiful Czech city of Brno to assist in the production of Richard Blackford's score to the National Theatre production of Tony Harrison's new play "Fram". The centre-piece is music for a solo ballet, to be performed by celebrated ballerina Viviana Durante.

March 13th - Another Scottish premiere..... work continues on the epic "Bodyguard", interrupted by a flying day-trip to Glasgow to attend the premiere of cello commission "Insomniac", given by Robert Irvine at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

March 6th - "Two Boldly Blow"..... Stuart completes the recordings for the CD to accompany Caroline Franklyn's woodwind duet tutor book Two Boldly Blow. In all good music shops soon!

February 27th - "Bodyguard" gets underway..... after attending a rough-cut screening, Stuart embarks on scoring a second all-guns-blazing continent-spanning action movie for director Chee Keong Cheung, "Bodyguard: A New Beginning", starring, amongst others, the legendary Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. Many a sleepless night lies ahead, one suspects....

February 26th - Clarks Yotoys..... Stuart wins the pitch (for Population Music) for Clarks' shoes cute new Yotoy commercials, Daisy and Zoom. Zooming on the showreel page now!

February 24th - Pinewood.... work completes on Richard Blackford's score to the ravishing Indian-set period feature "Wer liebe verspricht" with a full-orchestra recording at Phoenix Sound, Pinewood Studios.

January 27th - "Wedding in Hardingsholm"..... Stuart creates the music score for this new feature-length Lindstrohm drama, recording with the customary line-up of strings, flute, soprano sax and clarinet.

2007

November/December - More Orchestration..... Stuart orchestrates the feature length ZDF movies "Wind Across the Lake" (Rosamunde Pilcher), "Summer of Decision" (Inga Linstrohm) and "The Charm of Sandbergen" (Inga Lindstrohm)

October 29th - Insomniac..... after spending most of October down under, Stuart begins work on "Insomniac" - a commission for solo cello from Gerry Mattock and Beryl Claver-Jones, to be premiered by Robert Irvine in 2008.

September 25th - Hawk score completed..... the final pieces of the marathon that has been the music score to "Hawk" are in place - vocal solos from treble John Hallinan and soprano Anna Snow complete the production. Now over to Mac to complete the film.....!

September 20th - The collaboration continues..... Stuart orchestrates and records the musicians in a second film for Richard Blackford and ZDF - picturesque Swedish drama "Weekend in Soderholm".

September 5th - Catrin Finch..... A second field trip to Cardiff, this time to record the world class harpist Catrin Finch, with husband Hywel Wigley again on the faders. Catrin breezes brilliantly through the Hawk harp part in next to no time - see the Hawk website for the full story (www.hawkthemovie.com). Stuart enjoys his first full day of seeing without specs or lenses, thanks to laser surgery the day before!

August 24th - Further Hawk recordings..... The Hawk score takes further shape with recordings at Stuart's Archway Road studio of flute and piccolo (courtesy of Sue FitzGerald), cor anglais (Ilid Jones), clarinet and bass clarinet (Mary Bowater) and trombones (Neill Hadden).

August 13th - Variations on a Heroic Theme..... a last minute commission from Lev Parikian and the Rehearsal Orchestra to celebrate its 50th Anniversary. This blazing showpiece for full orchestra gets its "premiere" in an open rehearsal at the Edinburgh Festival - the composer is unfortunately stuck in London, and relegated to listening to it live down a crackly phone-line!

August..... A very busy month! Stuart begins his collaboration with Richard Blackford by working on the score for "A Risk Worth Taking", a feature-length TV movie starring James Wilby, Tim Dutton and Olivia Hallinan. This culminates with a brilliant recording session on August 18th with the London Telefilmonic Orchestra at Phoenix, Pinewood Studios. Richard thankfully decides I was indeed a risk worth taking....

July 18th - Song for Peter..... Stuart begins composing Peter Niven's 50th birthday commission piece, for an SATB choral line-up with piano accompaniment. Nina and Matthew Swann get the performers together in Camberwell to record the piece, with splendid results - including a very happy Peter!

July 17th - Serendipity..... The next step in realising the Hawk score comes in Cardiff, recording the world-class choir Serendipity, with Tim Rhys-Evans at the helm. They master the medieval Welsh lyrics (courtesy of Taliesin with some assistance from Marc Evans) and deliver a magical sound for the Hawk music. Many thanks to Tim and Andy Mulligan for putting it all togther, to Kirsten and Sylvia for their brilliant solos, and to Hywel Wigley for his engineering.

July 12th - Bratislava..... Along with Mac (director), Matt (producer) and James (editor), Stuart heads to Slovakia for a fantastic day's recording with David Hernando and the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra. The Hawk score suddenly comes to life! See the trip beautifully documented on Hawk's website - www.hawkthemovie.com

May 21st - Orchestra and choir for "Hawk"..... Plans are afoot to record in June with the excellent Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, and the score production receives a further boost in welcoming on board the fabulous Cardiff-based Serendipity Choir to record in July. Winners of the prestigious Cor Cymru, Serendipity are a brilliant new young choir that will be sure to give the film score some Welsh magic!

April 3rd - Littlewoods..... Stuart supervises and conducts (for Mushka Music) the 35-piece orchestra recording at Angel Studios for the hilarious forthcoming ad campaign for Littlewoods, featuring Trinny and Susannah. Look out for it on your TV screens soon!

March 20th - Flight Paths..... The Karrilon Trio - Susan FitzGerald (flute), Alice Pullen (oboe) and Marcus Andrews (piano) give a brilliant premiere performance of Stuart's new piece "Flight Paths" at Radlett Music Club. A second performance is pencilled for September, with a studio recording also in the offing.

March - Hawk takes off..... Stuart finishes a first complete draft of the score for MJ McMahon's beautiful short film "Hawk". See the trailer on the Showreel Page.

February 22nd - Lucky Star..... The Tempus Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Lev Parikian and the leadership of Sarah Crisp give a breathtaking performance of Stuart's score to the silent film Lucky Star at the Kenneth More Theatre. Juice also sparkle once again in Bitter Suite, and the synchronisation to picture in the film is awesome. The event's generous sponsors and an appreciative audience ensure that St Francis Hospice receives a four-figure sum from the evening.

February 9th - "Underground" wraps..... The finishing touches are applied to Stuart's scorching score for Underground. 86 mins of full-on orchestral music, and two recording days with fifteen musicians make this a very "Intense" production indeed...! Watch this space for news of the film's premiere and release, and for excerpts on the Showreel Page.

February 6th - Carling Piano Octet..... Stuart arranges, records and "stars" as Hand No.1 (of 8!) in a commercial for Carling. His 8-hands-on-one-piano version of the NutRocker will hit our TV screens soon - and appears now on the Showreel Page.

January..... Stuart completes a commercial for Astra (with a fabulous live orchestra at Angel Studios), idents for the True network (UBC Thailand), and for the new BBC quiz-show "Perfect Strangers", hosted by Adrian Chiles, which hits our screens this month.

2006

December 23rd - "Underground"..... Stuart wins a hotly-contested pitch to score Intense Productions' much-anticipated feature-length fight-movie "Underground", directed by Chee Keong Chueng.Check it out at www.undergroundmovie.co.uk. January just got very busy...!

December 5th - Collaboration with Richard Blackford..... After a successful meeting with renowned film and television composer Richard Blackford, Stuart is taken on as orchestrator for various projects to commence in the New Year.

November 26th - Premiere of "Endeavour"..... Caroline Franklyn and the Palace Band give Stuart's "Dances from the Voyages of Captain Cook" a tremendous premiere performance to a sell-out crowd in Highgate. Big thanks to Caroline and the band for all their hard work in rising to the challenge!

November 8th - Plans in motion for Lucky Star in 2007..... Stuart meets with Vivyan Ellacott at the Kenneth More Theatre to discuss plans to stage a performance of the score to Lucky Star with symphony orchestra and a projection of the film. The date is set as Thursday 22nd February 2007. Excerpts from the Tempus recording of the score are included on the Showreel Page.

November 1st - "Bitter Suite" on BBC Radio 3..... Producers Brian Jackson and Edward Blakeman of Performance On 3 contact Stuart at 7pm, saying that the recording of Bitter Suite (performed by Juice and the London Phoenix Orchestra) is scheduled to be broadcast. After a (slightly shaky!) live telephone interview with presenter Petroc Trelawny, Bitter Suite airs just after 9pm, sounds tremendous and is very well received, being highly commended by Richard Morrison of The Times. Listen to excerpts from Bitter Suite on the Showreel Page.

October 18th - www.stuarthancock.com goes live!..... The website is finished and goes live. Many thanks to Phil Thurston for his design work.

October 17th - "The Father" opens in London's West End..... First performance of the Borealis Production of Strindberg's The Father at the Courtyard Theatre, Covent Garden, featuring Stuart's atmospheric cello-based score. The lead actors, Llewellyn St David and Clara Andersson, deliver searing performances in this intense drama. Runs until Sunday November 12th - catch it if you can! Hear cellist Danny Keane's performance of the Overture on the Showreel Page.

October 14th - Cotswold Childrens Choir..... Stuart begins work as the official piano accompanist to the fantastic Cotswold Childrens Choir, under the direction of Jacki Pattenden in Burford, Oxfordshire. Rehearsals are well underway for their Christmas Concert on 9th December.

October 9th - The Karrillon Trio..... The trio (Sue FitzGerald - flute, Alice Pullen - oboe, Marcus Andrews - piano) confirm their commission for a new work from Stuart for their concert in March 2007.