Hayley Jenkins is a composer, lecturer, researcher and conductor based in the North East of England. Hayley is currently a lecturer of performing arts, music and education at the University of Sunderland, UK.
2022 saw a lot of challenges for artists and musicians but despite this, lots of creative projects have still managed to happen. One particular project was curated by pianist Duncan Honeybourne and aimed to bring music into peoples home during Lockdown and raise money for Help Musicians UK. The original purpose of the project was, in Honeybourne’s words, “to imaginatively harness the zeitgeist of our present situation: to bring comfort and enjoyment to a large ready-made audience stuck at home, to aid musicians badly affected by the “cultural lockdown”, and to add to the contemporary repertoire, creating an artistic keepsake of this extraordinary phase in our history.” I was very privileged to be involved in the project and have my piece I hear you, Mr Blackbird (Parts 1 & 2) added to the album released in November on the Prima Facie label.
Since the launch of the album, I am very pleased to say my work has since been aired on BBC Radio 3 and Klara Radio. There are lots of exciting things in the pipeline for 2021. I am currently working on some more piano pieces for Duncan Honeybourne, the beginning sketches of an opera with short story writer Clare O’Connor and hopefully some other projects (below) that were on pause due to COVID. Partition, Illuminate Women’s Music for cello and piano. Various venues Autumn 2021. To My Cyst, One Hundred Second Songs by Dot DasH Music for soprano and piano. Late Music, York, April 2022. BE THE SEA, (2021-2022) collaboration with artist Louise Mackenzie and Durham Wildlife Trust as part of the SeaScapes Heritage Lottery Funded project. To find out more visit BE THE SEA, to participate in some instructions for listening and have a listen to some field recordings here:https://soundcloud.com/bethesea-seascapes.