Hannah Kendall


Hannah Kendall is a British composer.

Background and education

Kendall grew up in Wembley, where her mother is the head teacher in a primary school. One of two children, her parents are originally from Guyana. Her grandfather was a jazz musician and her family stimulated her interest in the creative arts. Kendall attended the University of Exeter where she majored in vocal studies and composition. She also gained a Masters at the Royal College of Music and studied arts management at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
In 2015, Kendall was noted as one of the "brilliant female composers under the age of 35". She featured on BBC Radio 3's Composer of the Week. All five composers of the week were women and this was part of Radio 3’s International Women’s Day celebrations, which were highlighted in The Guardian.
Her one-man chamber opera The Knife of Dawn, with a libretto by Tessa McWatt and based on the incarceration of political activist Martin Carter in the then British Guiana in 1953 was premiered in 2016 at the Roundhouse.
In 2015 Kendall won a 'Women of the Future Award' in the Arts and Culture category. Her piece The Spark Catchers premiered at the Proms in August 2017 and is inspired by the work of Lemn Sissay.
Kendall has worked for both the Barbican and London Music Masters charity in arts management roles.

Selected works

Orchestral and large ensemble works