NEWS

updated - February 2010

2010

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.

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 Seaons" 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. Excerpts to appear on the showreel page soon.

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. Appearing on the showreel page soon....

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 will appear 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.