May 17th/24th - Not one, but TWO juicy new projects..... Like buses, good news comes in twos, and Stuart is delighted to be on board to score two brilliant new TV projects. And they couldn't be more different: for E4 and Netflix, a new irreverent comedy-horror series called CRAZYHEAD from the mind of Misfits creator Howard Overman and Urban Myth Films (makers of Atlantis), and an animated family adaptation of the classic children's bedtime book WE'RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT - slated for a Christmas Eve broadcast on Channel 4. Fun and busy creative times ahead.

May 12th - Awards for KILLING THYME..... The Capture boys and writer Natalie Malla triumph at the Carmarthen Bay Film Festival with Killing Thyme (featuring Stuart's quirky harmonica/melodica score), picking up not just 'Best Short Comedy', but also the overall 'Best in Festival' award. Congratulations to them - hopefully the beginnings of a good run of awards recognition for this brilliant short film. See a clip from the film here.

May 10th - Showcase and performance at The Forge, Camden..... With the help of A Star PR's Ian Roberts, Stuart hosts a private showcase evening with live performance at The Forge, Camden. A small but very cool and well-equipped venue (and with excellent canapes), the Forge hosts some 50+ guests for the event - a combination of friends and colleagues from Stuart's past work in both advertising and film/TV, as well as press and new acquaintances he looks forward to working with in the future. Stuart performs a live set on piano with string quartet, featuring a chamber arrangement of '@IvyBean104' (singer Eloise Secker reprising the twitter song from his British-Composer-Award-winning Snapshot Songs), followed by a medley of themes from his film and TV work (Picturehouse, The Desert Treasure, Atlantis, The Last Belle and Underground).

May 6th - Accordion premier at World Champs, Innsbruck..... Straight from the Killing Thyme premier, Stuart journeys (via Munich) to the stunning Alpine beauty of Austria and the Accordion World Championships in Innsbruck. Under competition scrutiny, the London Accordion Orchestra proudly fly the Union Jack and deliver a brilliant premier performance of Stuart's 'Rhapsody', alongside pieces from Matthew Scott and Ian Watson (also conducting!). It is rapturously received, and the composers are immediately inundated with requests for their pieces from other European accordion orchestras. With their competitive duties complete, the orchestra relax and enjoy the warm weather and breathtaking Alpine scenery - and, two days later at the final ceremony at Innsbruck's Olympic Hall, are delighted to beat off the bulk of their rivals and be awarded 2nd place in the Oberstufe (Advanced) class, no doubt being recognised not just for their skill and musicality, but for presenting a brave and repertoire-expanding programme of new British music. 2nd best in the world for a London band in a field led by the Austrians, Germans and Swiss...? Not bad...! Future London performances and Abbey Road recording sessions are planned for July 2016.

May 5th - KILLING THYME Cast and Crew premier..... Capture host a long-awaited cast-and-crew premier screening of their masterpiece short film 'Killing Thyme' at the BFI, Stephen Street, London. It's a very well-attended and jolly affair, with leading lady Charlotte Riley (and hubby Tom Hardy) in attendance. It's fantastic to finally see the film all finished and benefitting from a very sympathetic sound mix from Nigel Squibbs, which allows Stuart's score to neatly support the story and sing through where necessary. Director MJ McMahon, producer Matthews Jones and writer Natalie Malla proudly introduce proceedings before taking the film off to the Carmarthen Bay Film Festival next week. See a clip from the film here.

March - Sainsburys 'Little Twists' new seasonal spots..... Stuart's loungey jazz score for Sainsburys is synchronised to several new spots in the 'Little Twists' campaign, to tie in neatly with seasonal shopping for Mother's Day and Easter.

February 12th - Santander 2016 campaign..... Stuart completes work on a series of four spots for this year's Santander ad campaign, promoting its various products including the wildly popular 1-2-3 account. Jenson Button and Jessica Ennis continue to feature as brand ambassadors for Santander. Making clever use of the 7-note Santander musical mnemonic in the score, the first ad - 'Surprises' - is on air already, with the remaining three spots to be staggered across the year in order to cope with the reported surge in demand for the 1-2-3 account...!

February 9th - Cardiff University visiting lecturer..... Invited by the University of Cardiff Music Department, Stuart delivers two talks to the composition and Business of Music students about his music and career path, sharing anecdotes, the realities and rewards of the industry, and many musical examples from his repertoire. A very enjoyable and rewarding experience, and one which will hopefully inspire the students to at least consider a path that takes in commercial and film/TV music as well as straight classical composition.

January 15th - 'Rhapsody' for Accordion Orchestra..... Stuart completes a first full draft of a delightful concert commission: a 5-minute competition piece for the fantastic London Accordion Orchestra, the brainchild of master accordionist, conductor and good friend Ian Watson. The piece, titled simply 'Rhapsody', will form part of the ensemble's 15-minute programme when they compete at the prestigious Accordion World Championships at the World Music Festival, Innsbruck, Austria in May.

2015

December 13th - BBC Radio interview..... Stuart is invited to join Nick Coffer live on his popular lunchtime programme on BBC Three Counties Radio to talk about both his success at the British Composer Awards, and the fresh release of his Atlantis soundtrack album. It's a lively 15 minutes of chat, and Nick complements it with airings of track 1 from the Atlantis album 'Journey to Aegina' and Snapshot Songs' uplifting Body&Soul anthem 'Brave'. Listen to the interview on catch-up here, from about 1 hr 45 mintues in, available on iPlayer in the UK until January 13th. Happy Christmas to you all, and looking forward to more exciting projects in 2016...!

December 11th - ATLANTIS ALBUM RELEASED..... As if the week hadn't been exciting enough following wednesday's British Composer Awards triumph for Snapshot Songs, Silva Screen Records finally release the long-awaited soundtrack of Stuart's epic soundtrack to Atlantis. It's a tempestuous 73-minute, 30-track feast for the ears, and is out on CD and to download from all the usual places.

Early reviews are in, and are very favourable! Pete Simons of Synchrotones writes: "Stuart Hancock's Atlantis is a magnificent work... What is impressive about Atlantis is its big cinematic feel; along with its large orchestral performance...the score sounds vibrant and exciting in a way that many similar scores don't. There is also a fine balance between exciting action cues and quietly melancholy ones. Both Hancock's action writing and his dramatic compositions are compelling; drawing the listener into the score."

Read the whole Synchrotones review here, and catch up with Atlantis score highlights on the showreel page.

December 9th - SNAPSHOT SONGS WINS BRITISH COMPOSER AWARD..... A thrilling evening at the BFI Southbank, where Stuart is honoured to receive the British Composer Award for Best Community or Educational Project at the end-of-year British Composer Awards, for his zeitgeisty song-cycle Snapshot Songs. It's a huge delightful surprise, and wonderful to have the recognition of the music establishment for what was a fantastic multi-faceted collaborative project. Celebrated conductor Jessica Cottis and Atlantis Oracle actress Juliet Stephenson are on hand to present the awards, and BBC Radio 3 provides coverage of the event at the weekend. The full list of lucky winners is here, and catch up with highlights of SNAPSHOT SONGS here. Photo by Mark Allan.

December 4th - Qatar 'Sons of Falcons'..... With Qatar National Day almost upon us once again, and based on the patriotic National Day anthem, Stuart provides a rousing soundtrack for this year's TV spots, working closely with director JT Thomas of the newly formed Squire Studio of Soho.

November 23rd - Return to W11 OPERA..... Almost five years on from the resounding success of his 2010 youth opera "Rain Dance" at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, Stuart and librettist Donald Sturrock are back in talks with the trustees of W11 Opera about a new show. With initial storylines (top secret!) approved, the new opera commission is formalised and will get its premier staging with the vibrant west London company in December 2017.

November 7th - KILLING THYME premieres in York.... MJ McMahon's short film KILLING THYME premieres tonight at the celebrated Aesthetica Film Festival in York. McMahon directs A-listers Brian Cox and Charlotte Riley alongside newcomer Joe Reynolds in writer Natalie Malla's story of 8-year-old Sam, who is desperate for an allotment. When he meets Norman, a curmudgeonly old man with a neglected allotment and a death wish, Sam thinks he has the solution for both of their problems. It's a bittersweet little gem of a film, and Stuart score is a colourful chamber blend of live harmonica, melodica, violin and cajon. All set to play at the Foyle Film Festival too later in November and other festivals into 2016. Check out the Killing Thyme website and Facebook page for more info.

October 29th - BRITISH COMPOSER AWARD NOMINATION..... Stuart is excited to be nominated for a prestigious BASCA British Composer Award. SNAPSHOT SONGS is shortlisted in the Community/Educational Project category, and Stuart is looking forward to attending the ceremony with the great and the good of the music industry at the BFI Southbank on December 9th.

October - BT Mobile: giving the UK exactly what it deserves..... BT's major new ad campaign for 2015 continues with spots feature Hollywood villain Willem Dafoe on a spacecraft orbiting above the UK extolling the virtues of BT Mobile's combination of 4G and Wifi, with a grand, brooding sci-fi soundtrack from Stuart (on your TV screens now and appearing on the showreel page soon).

September 11th - Huawei 'Shark Dancing'..... In the beautiful Bahamas, Cristina Zenato is renowned as a shark whisperer, a woman who is able to connect with the sea's most feared predators through her touch. Ogilvy & Mather and director Juriaan Booij create this long-form spot for Huawei, celebrating Zenato and her 'touch made powerful', accompanied by a rousing lyrical piano-led score by Stuart. Watch the exquisite full film here.

September 9th - Fisher Price..... For a new campaign for Fisher Price, created from natural home video footage, Stuart gives Grieg's celebrated Peer Gynt 'Morning' a delicate piano-and-strings arrangement to help convey the innocence and joy of the toddlers 'learning through play'.

August 31st - Sainsburys 'Little Twists'..... Stuart continues a good run of form in the commercial arena with original music for Sainsburys' new 'Little Twists' campaign. The score features bursts of slightly random music, leading into a smokey jazz play-out as protagonists 'Martin' and 'Ashley' shelve their globe-trotting aspirations in favour of unexpected Sainsburys 'twists' to their macaroni cheeses and spag-bols. The inimitable Jarvis Cocker adds his distinctively dry narration to the piece. On the showreel page soon.

August 10th - KFC 'Sisters'..... BBH and director Michael Pearce create a touching long-form film for KFC. Entitled 'Sisters', it follows the path of two estranged sisters bonding over unfortunate circumstances. It's one of those beautiful pieces of work that looks and feels far more like a film than a commercial, and Stuart's poised and subtle piano-led score complements the story perfectly. See it on the showreel page here.

August 3rd - Flash..... Stuart completes work on an updated version of a throwback Flash commercial from 80s, featuring an arrangement of the famous 'Waltz of the Flowers' from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker to accompany the blissfully balletic mopping of a kitchen floor!

July 30th - Premiere of SIMON'S CAT..... The crowd-funded 'Off To The Vet' - the latest outing for youtube sensation Simon's Cat - is unleashed in a private premiere screening at the Soho Hotel. A first long-form outing for Simon Tofield's grumpy mog, also now in colour for the first time - and, crucially, with a music score from Stuart! He has succeeded in nailing a brilliantly catchy theme tune with the characterful bassoon as its lead, as well as concocting a subtle fitted underscore to compliment Simon and his cat's struggles to deal with a sore paw. Soon to be distributed on youtube - watch this space - and Stuart is looking forward to more fruitful collaborations with Simon in the future.

July 29th - KILLING THYME..... Stuart completes the chamber score for Hawk director M.J.McMahon's new short film 'Killing Thyme'. It's a beautifully-observed study of the relationship between a grumpy old-timer with an allotment (played by Brian Cox) and a well-meaning young lad (Joe Reynolds) keen to expand his horticultural horizons. The gorgeous Charlotte Riley (Peaky Blinders, Edge of Tomorrow) completes the cast. Stuart's music features a jolly mix of the folksy and the bittersweet on harmonica, melodica, cajon and violin. Watch this space for news of the premiere.

July 5th - ASCAP Scoring Assignment (2014) - The Lovely Bones..... With the ASCAP Film and TV Scoring Workshop 2015 about to begin in Hollywood, and, almost a year on from Stuart's recording session at 20th Century Fox, he has finally got his act together to revisit and remix his scoring assignment cue. He was lucky enough to be assigned a clip from Peter Jackson's 2009 eerie drama 'The Lovely Bones', starring Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Susan Sarandon, Rachel Weisz and the predatory Stanley Tucci. Originally scored by Brian Eno, Stuart applied his own subtle orchestral touch to the chilling scene - and the result is here on the showreel page now. It was this piece of work that prompted composer John Powell (Bourne trilogy, How to Train Your Dragon) to declare "You know what the f*ck you're doing" - words that Stuart is still dining out on...

June 25th - A Grand Day Out..... Now that he has a room big enough to hold one, Stuart wastes little time seeking out something he has long aspired to have - a grand piano. He attends the quarterly piano auction at Conway Hall, Holborn, and is the winning bidder on the most beautiful of the 100 or so grands up for grabs: a fully rebuilt and restored 1912 Bosendorfer. She's a glorious, curvaceous, ebonised 5'7", and makes a sweet intimate tone with a light feathery touch. Looking forward to many pleasurable hours of playing - and recording!

June 24th - SNAPSHOT SONGS CD Launch at SHM..... The SHM Foundation play host to Stuart and some 50 members of last year's London cast from the grand community project Snapshot Songs, to celebrate the experience, as well as officially launch the CD of the studio recording he has worked hard to put together over the last few months. It's a joyful and nostalgic evening remembering the show and all its shared ups and downs, and SHM screen a 5-minute commemorative film of clips from the concert performances and audience and cast interviews. Highlights compilation here.

June 1st - ALL CHANGE!..... A whirlwind week in which some major changes take place...! Not least of all - getting married. Fantastic day on May 24th at Lauderdale House, Highgate, with friends and family coming to help celebrate from all corners of the world. All over in a flash with some Kylie-Minogue-inspired musical creations on home-made whistles...(you had to be there...) And then - exactly a week later - with the honeymoon on ice, Stuart and spouse are packed up and, in a mammoth moving day, leave Archway Road in the hands of lovely tenants and make the move to their beautiful new abode. Exciting times - and looking forward to settling into a new work-space.

May 17th - Cyprus at EUROVISION..... It's Eurovision week! The Cyprus song, penned by Mike Connaris which Stuart contributed string arrangements for, is one of a handful of the Eurovision entries to be selected to begin the week with an acoustic performance at the prestigious Vienna State Opera. The chamber line-up of the Vienna Philharmonics performs Stuart's arrangement and John Karayiannis delivers a cool-headed and heart-felt performance in front of the great and the good of Vienna - doing his country's chances at the forthcoming contest no harm at all. Watch the performance in full here. 'One Thing I Should Have Done' qualifies comfortably from the semi-finals a few days later, but, despite another brilliant performance in the final the following Saturday, the song is over-shadowed by the flashy staging of many of the other songs, and sadly finishes way down the order (but still beats the UK!). Undeterred, Mike will doubtless give it another crack next year!

May 8th - Studio Upgrade..... Stuart undrgoes a major overhaul of his studio set-up, welcoming a lovely shiny new Mac Pro and a long-overdue upgrade to Logic X. Hopefully getting to grips with the new software and operating system will not be too traumatic...!

May 1st - CAPSULE..... Stuart puts the finishing touches to his orchestration of composer Hugo de Chaire's score to the new British Cold War thriller 'Capsule' in advance of recording sessions in Budapest. Capsule stars the brilliant Edmund Kingsley (son of Sir Ben), and is the debut feature film of Andrew Martin. It's a tense exploration of the human mind thrust into the unknown, told through the claustrophobic setting of a 1950s first generation malfunctioning space capsule. Watch out for a theatrical release later this year.

April 18th - SNAPSHOT SONGS Recordings completed..... The last soloists for the Snapshot Songs album are recorded, and Stuart mixes and masters the tracks. All sounding fabulous! Off to the CD plant for pressing - with a 'launch' party for the cast pencilled in for June at SHM.

March 30th - BT Mobile: giving the UK exactly what it deserves..... Stuart wins the pitch to score music for part of BT's major new ad campaign for 2015. The spots feature Hollywood villain Willem Dafoe on a spacecraft orbiting above the UK extolling the virtues of BT Mobile's combination of 4G and Wifi, with a grand, brooding sci-fi soundtrack from Stuart. With the wider campaign already airing with Ewan McGregor's spots, look out for these Dafoe films later in the summer (and on the showreel page once it has broadcast).

March 9th - Simon's Cat - Off To The Vet..... Stuart is delighted to win the pitch - via Mcasso - writing the new theme music for the latest episode of Youtube sensation Simon's Cat. The brainchild of animator Simon Tofield, Simon's Cat started out life with the one-minute short 'Cat Man Do' in 2008 which, with its sequels, has now clocked up over half a BILLION views on Youtube. Now Simon is making the crowd-funded 'Off To The Vet' in long-form (12 mins) and in colour - and over the next couple of months, Stuart will work closely with Simon on a score derived from his theme.

March 6th - The Jaguar Experience..... For his colleagues at a-Mnemonic Music Production, Stuart composes a high-octane electro-orchestral score to accompany an online-content promotional film for the 'Jaguar Experience' - the premium thrill-ride of racing your own super-car across a frozen lake in the mountains outside Gstaadt.

February 16th - EUROVISION arranging..... Another triumph for old boss Mike Connaris of Mcasso, penning the winning entry once again for his native Cyprus for the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Vienna in May. Mike's ballad 'Stronger Every Minute', the orchestration of which Stuart arranged and conducted at Angel Studios Islington, had flown the flag for Cyprus in 2004, scoring a brilliant 5th with Lisa Andreas in the final in Istanbul that year. This year's song is called 'One Thing I Should Have Done', and is sung by John Karayiannis. Mike commissions Stuart to produce an acoustic chamber string arrangement of the song using a line-up of players similar to George Martin's double-string-quartet arrangement of the Beatles' 'Eleanor Rigby'. Mike records some great playing of the arrangement with the strings of the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra with old friend David Hernando at the helm. Stuart's 'unplugged' arrangement can be heard and downloaded on iTunes here. Wishing Mike and John the best of luck for the next couple of months leading up to the contest!

February to April - SNAPSHOT SONGS soloists' recordings..... Following the rigours of Atlantis, and a bit of down-time in late January, Stuart gets back in the saddle to begin the marathon task of organising and recording of all the original London soloists from Snapshot Songs. Building on the orchestra, drummers and ensemble choir already recorded - some 35 singers and poets come in and out of the Archway Road studios over the course of February, March and April, and gradually all the pieces of the jigsaw come together towards a fabulous finished record of a wonderful project. Pictured: Wendy McNeilly, Ro Sweeney and Elsie Lam - three of the ten original 'Speed-Daters'.

January 14th - ATLANTIS - completed!..... Happy New Year! Stuart finally downs tools on Atlantis, having put the finishing touches to the score for the brilliant 13th and final episode of series 2. It's been an intense and pretty all-consuming job (with the final four episodes' scores completed in the space of about three weeks), but the whole thing has been enormously satisfying: 500 minutes of score played by some top-notch musos to accompany a colourful mash-up of Greek myths, big battles, monsters, and one big series-long rollercoaster saga of dark emotions? Why, yes please!! Six mammoth recording sessions at the Archway Road studios, and one in Bratislava to bring it all to life... and early discussions of an album release in the new year too. Watch clips from the opening episodes now on the television showreel page.

2014

December 14th - ALBUM REVIEWS: The Last Belle..... Stuart picks up two of those money-couldn't-buy brilliant reviews of his latest album release The Last Belle , the first courtesy of film music fan-site Movie Music Mania. "Hancock has concocted a compact work of pure, distilled charm!" screams the headline. "The performance by the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra is rich and vivacious, and Hancock knows how to write music that really lives and breathes. What's more, he demonstrates a knack for detail, the minor flourishes he adds and emotional shades he is able to execute really elevating the score to an impressive level of complexity. Don't be fooled by your preconceptions of a "short film score", because Stuart Hancock once again demonstrates that good things can indeed come in the smallest of packages. Bravo!"

Next Review Graveyard's Darren Rea declares that the "incredibly intricate and beautifully emotive music...brings to mind the best of Jerry Goldsmith, Alan Silvestri, Danny Elfman and John Williams, but with that unique Hancock twist that his followers have already grown to love... From the first note to the last, this is a meticulously planned masterclass in how to grab the listener's attention" [10/10]

See a clip on the showreel page and grab your copy of the album from MovieScore Media. And, on youtube, the movie itself has racked up an impressive 100,000 views!

December 10th - ASCAP Foundation Award..... Stuart caps a wonderful year of success with one final award - one which is unexpected, but hugely gratifying. Following his participation in this summer's ASCAP Film and Television Scoring Workshop in Hollywood, Stuart is the recipient of the prestigious ASCAP Foundation Harold Arlen Film & TV Award. Arlen was the celebrated composer of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "Stormy Weather", and Stuart is flattered to accept the award based on his "excellence, professionalism, musical ability and career potential" demonstrated during the workshop. The awards ceremony takes place today at the Lincoln Center, Broadway, NYC - and, had his Atlantis scoring not still been in full, intense swing, Stuart would have been there like a shot to accept the award in person. He hopes to justify the honour by continuing to make the similar big career steps forward in 2015.

December 2nd - NEW ALBUM RELEASE: The Last Belle..... After a long time in the pipeline, and boosted by its Gold-Medal-winning turn at the Park City Film Music Festival, Stuart's score to Neil Boyle's genius animated short film THE LAST BELLE finally has a digital release today on the MovieScore Media label. "Small films do not necessarily have small scores", reads the press release, "...The Last Belle is a rich, colourful and versatile score which gives you an emotional rollercoaster in just 14 minutes". Watch Wally's downfall - track 5 on the album! - on the showreel page and visit MovieScore Media to get download your copy

November 15th - Transmission of Episode 1 of ATLANTIS..... Stuart, along with around 3.5 million other Brits, settles down to catch the opening episode of the new series of Atlantis in its primetime slot in the BBC One saturday night schedule. It looks terrific, with a real epic swagger, with Stuart's titanic orchestral score sounding fabulous - and it's only the beginning of the wonderful 13-episode saga that will hopefully have the nation glued to their screens well into the spring. It's a tough ask to directly go up against a certain karaoke competition on the other side, but the figures hold up well, and the reviews in the morning are, on the whole, pretty favourable! Catch a clip from the opening episode on the showreel page now.

November 9th - SNAPSHOT SONGS choir recording day..... After much planning, Stuart assembles a healthy number of the original 'cast' of Snapshot songsters, together with Drumheads, at Angel Studios to record their parts in his zeitgeisty London song cycle, which premiered spectacularly at the Milton Court Concert Hall, Barbican, in April this year. It's a long and tiring day with everyone working their socks off, but it's wonderful to reunite so many of the performers and revisit the songs. The orchestra (courtesy of Bratislava in June), choir and drummers are now in the bag, which leaves the solo singers and spoken-word artists to record in the new year, once Stuart's work on Atlantis is complete.

October 25th and 26th - QATAR and ATLANTIS recordings with the BSO..... Concurrent with his composing work on Atlantis, Stuart completes his arranging/orchestrating work on the National Day songs composed by Mr Salah Al-Ali, Qatar Minister for Youth and Sport, designed to inspire the younger generation of Qataris to dream big and work hard for their future. Always appreciative of the opportunity to take recording duties to the fantastic Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, the songs come to colourful life under the baton of David Hernando, and Stuart makes the most of the trip by recording Atlantis's 4th and 5th episode scores there too.

September 18th and 19th - First recording sessions for ATLANTIS..... Work has been progressing on the epic opening two episodes of Atlantis, which see the ancient city under siege from a resurgent Pasiphae, with scintillating battle scenes a-plenty, and Jason and pals on a desperate covert quest to save the day. Stuart has worked closely with the show's producers at Urban Myth Films to nail the new, darker tone for the music score, and is very excited to welcome the orchestral musicians to his Archway Road studio to perform the score and bring it to life. Similar sessions to follow for subsequent episodes, hopefully. Catch a clip from episode 1 on the showreel page now.

August 30th - A fantastic medal haul from PARK CITY..... Seems Stuart is once again enjoying a good run of festival recognition and awards success for his work. The Park City Film Music Festival (staged in the Utah home-town of the Sundance Film Festival) selects and screens three of Stuart's scored films; and it is a wonderful honour that all three go on to receive awards for their scores. HAWK flies off with a Bronze Medal/Director's Choice for Best Impact of Music in a Short Film, whilst THE LAST BELLE picks up the Gold Medal in the same category. Rounding off a triumphant festival, THE DESERT TREASURE once again performs beyond expectations and garners the Gold Medal/Audience Choice for Best Impact of Music for a Documentary Film - the icing on the cake following its CD album release last month.

July 25th - Two Jerry Goldsmith Award wins!..... Stuart wakes up stateside to news that both his nominated works at this year's Jerry Goldsmith Awards in Cordoba have won their respective categories. Stuart's song 'Take My Hand' (from 'Unknown Heart', lyrics by director Giles Foster) wins for Best Song, and his score for the Buster Keaton silent comedy 'One Week' picks up the honours in the Free Creation category. Particularly gratifying, as both categories were decided on a combination of jury and popular votes cast. Obviously disappointed not to be able to attend this year, especially as Mr Goldmsith's widow, Carol, is there to present the awards, but being in Los Angeles is not such a bad excuse...

July 13th - August 9th - HOLLYWOOD..... Stuart is very excited to board the plane to Los Angeles, which is his home for the next four fabulous weeks. At the invitation of ASCAP, he is one of 12 talented participating composers in their annual Film and Television Scoring Workshop, led by the charismatic Richard Bellis. There are many highlights to recount: the mixture of evening talks with Richard and music editor Michael T. Ryan, tours of the Eastman scoring stage and the amazing hive of productivity that is JoAnn Kane Music Serivces; visiting Remote Control Productions (HQ of Hans Zimmer and colleagues), including a tour of the great man's own magnificent studio, and attending a talk featuring all-time hero, the legendary John Williams. A seminar with TV work-horse composers Sean Callery (24, Homeland) and Dave Porter (Breaking Bad) was especially resonant, given that Stuart's working on the first few music cues of Atlantis whilst in LA. At the end of the third week, the participants had the privilege of conducting - all-too-briefly - a top-notch 60-piece Hollywood orchestra at the 20th Century Fox scoring stage (see picture on the left of Stuart in action!), where the scoring assignments were brought to magnificent life. Watch the finished mix of Stuart's scoring assignment - The Lovely Bones - on the showreel page now. The icing on Stuart's cake came a couple of days later, when composer John Powell (Bourne trilogy, How to Train Your Dragon) passed judgment on Stuart's new recorded work, declaring "You know what the f*ck you're doing". These words were captured literally in icing with a birthday cake at ASCAP the following day. Huge thanks to ASCAP, and in particular Mike Todd, Jen Harmon and Patrick Clancy for organising the whole workshop and hosting it so brilliantly, and to a wonderful and varied group of fellow up-and-coming composers who will hopefully stay firm friends. Let's hope Hollywood will come a-calling again in the not-too-distant future...

July 8th - NEW ALBUM RELEASE: The Desert Treasure..... Kronos Records and MovieScore Media join forces to release the an album of Stuart's music for the Qatar documentaries. Included is the complete score for 'The Desert Treasure' - which was instrumental in him winning last year's Jerry Goldsmith Award for Best Composer. Completing the album are 10-minute suites from his previous scores to 'Written in the Sand', 'Birdlife of Qatar' and 'Qatar Dream 2030'. Have a listen to a clip here and visit Kronos Records or MovieScore Media to get hold of the album.

June 25th - Jerry Goldsmith Award nominations!..... News just in from the International Film Music Festival of Cordoba: Stuart is delighted to hear that he has two nominations this year for the prestigious Jerry Goldsmith Awards. Last year 'The Desert Treasure' ('Plants of Qatar') won in the documentary category, and, together with 'Hawk', helped him achieve the Best Composer accolade. This year, Stuart's song 'Take My Hand' (from 'Unknown Heart', lyrics by director Giles Foster) has a nod for Best Song, and his recently recorded score for the Buster Keaton silent comedy 'One Week' is competing in the Free Creation category.

June 22nd & 23rd - Snapshot Songs orchestra recording..... two months on from the Barbican performances of his song cycle Snapshot Songs, Stuart takes the orchestral score to his friends at the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra. In three hugely enjoyable sessions, the 50-strong orchestra record the entire 80-minute score - ready to add London's voices and drummers later in the year with a view to producing a polished studio album of the work.

June 20th - Cannes Lions triumph for Harvey Nics..... the irreverent Harvey Nichols Christmas campaign from Adam & Eve DDB (featuring Stuart's arrangement of 'Silent Night') is the big winner in Promo & Activation at Cannes. It picks up two Gold Lions and the Grand Prix. Enjoy it on the showreel page here.

June 11th - Dinner with Mrs Dahl..... plans are afoot to create a ballet for Sadler's Wells of the Roald Dahl childrens' classic 'James and the Giant Peach', and Stuart enjoys an evening talking things through with English National Ballet choreographer George Williamson, Donald Sturrock, and the utterly delightful Liccy (Felicity) Dahl, widow of the great man. Watch this space...

June 2nd - ATLANTIS..... having pitched for the role by scoring a 6-minute sequence from the opening episode, Stuart is awarded the commission of scoring the second series of the popular BBC Saturday night fantasy drama Atlantis. The show stars Jack Donnelly, Mark Addy and Robert Emms as the amiable heroes, caught up in a cornucopia of Greek myths and struggles for power (with Juliet Stevenson as the Oracle and Sarah Parish as the delightfully evil Queen Pasiphae). Stuart is looking forward to working closely with producers Urban Myth Films, and getting stuck into some gritty, colourful, orchestral scoring for the show, which looks set to take on a darker tone than the previous series.

May 22nd - Ivor Novello Awards..... Stuart joins a-mnemonic colleague Toby Jarvis for the annual ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel, where he catches up with some familiar faces and rubs shoulders with some celebrated company from all fields of the music world. And has a few drinks in the process...

May 21st - ASCAP invitation..... Stuart is delighted to receive an invitation to join the class of '14 at the annual ASCAP Film Composing Workshop, to be held over a 4-week period in Los Angeles from mid-July. Described as a 'finishing school' for emerging film composers under the tutelage of Richard Bellis, Stuart will be one of just 12 composers selected to take part from all over the world.

May 19th-21st - new Qatar song project..... at the invitation of Mr Salah Al-Ali, Minister for Youth and Sport, and Al-Rayyan Productions, Stuart is flown to Doha to discuss music plans for a new Qatar National Day project. Building on the success of the Qatar Dream 2030 Fast Train project from 2011, Stuart will be arranging and orchestrating children's songs (composed by Mr Salah with local composer Luaay Alghalebi) aiming to inspire the younger generation of Qataris to dream big and work hard for their future.

May 11th - Buster in Bratislava..... Stuart takes advantage of a little downtime in the wake of Snapshot Songs to make a quick trip to the Slovakian capital, where he records his orchestral score to the Buster Keaton genius silent comedy 'One Week' (originally written for live performance for St Paul's Sinfonia). See the whole film here.

April 13th and 14th - SNAPSHOT SONGS performances..... At last the big day arrives - the climax of Stuart's long-standing composer residency with the SHM Foundation, and the culmination of many months of composition, collaboration and rehearsal. Rehearsals have gathered pace in the last few weeks, with things coming together under the baton of music director Peter Ash, and it is gratifying to perform to two sold-out houses at the spectacular Milton Court Concert Hall.

There are too many highlights to mention: but Snapshot Songs is indisputably a huge triumph and a tour-de-force of diverse musicality - and above all, a real 'snapshot' in itself of zeitgeisty London in the form of song, rap and spoken word. The enthusiastic standing ovations confirm this success at both performances. It all feels over too soon somehow - and the next challenge is to try and build on the success and camaraderie of the new choir in particular and perhaps take Snapshot Songs forward as a 'model' into new song-writing and new collaborations and performances.

April 5th and 6th - US premiere of RAIN DANCE..... Stuart takes a brief break from his Snapshot Songs shenanigans and boards a plane to Boston to attend the second weekend of performances of North Cambridge Family Opera's production of his opera 'Rain Dance'. Originally performed by the children of W11 in 2010, NCFO put their own spin on things by getting the grown-ups involved too - and it's a real community affair in the best sense of the word, with two entire casts sharing the performances and having a ball in the process. Huge thanks to the whole company for their hard work and energy, but especially to music director David Bass for making it all happen, and to the Sandbergs for their splendid New England hospitality.

March 28th - PRS pop-up for SNAPSHOT SONGS..... choir member Clare Worley and Stuart stage a mini morning pop-up performance for Snapshot Songs in the foyer of the PRS offices on Berners Street. Clare delivers a sultry, bluesy version of 'This City' before the two of them duet on the melancholy 'Leaving London' - hopefully helping raise awareness of the fast-approaching Milton Court performances (and hopefully helping shift a few more tickets!)

March 23rd - SNAPSHOT SONGS and the LSSO..... Another milestone in the song cycle project: the first rehearsal for the London Schools Symphony Orchestra. And therefore the first chance to try out Stuart's orchestrations, and to put the Snapshot Songs choir together with the band, soloists and Drumheads. An intense and challenging day with the talented children of the orchestra (and everybody else) working their socks off - but hugely encouraging as the project begins the final rehearsal phase with only three weeks to go until the big day.

March 6th - Body & Soul pop-up performance..... Zoe and Malunga from Body & Soul, together with guitarist and leader Dom Cookson, Stuart and SHM descend upon the St Pancras piano to give an impromptu performances of 'Brave' to the commuters of London. It attracts quite a bit of attention and admiration, including that of the Transport Police....

February 10th - First formal rehearsals for SNAPSHOT SONGS..... Another pivotal day for Stuart's song cycle project. Whilst he continues composing and arranging work on many of the songs (including composing new songs with lyrics from choir member Bernadette Bentley), the choir is assembled for its first formal Monday evening rehearsal at the Barbican's Frobisher Rooms. It's an exciting and nerve-wracking couple of hours as the 50-odd singers start tackling Stuart's cycle opener 'This City' (based on Mat Lloyd's powerful poem of the same name), his choral arrangement of Body & Soul's 'Brave' anthem, and the intricacies of 'Speed Dating'. This is the first of 8 Monday evening rehearsals for the singers. Also on the same evening, the scintillating young drummers of Drumheads have their first Snapshot Songs rehearsal, where they start formulating their live versions of the hip-hop and grime beats of Only Connect's 'Next Big Thing'. Suddenly the task ahead is thrown into some sort of perspective, and it's the beginning of a very challenging but very rewarding rehearsal period for this ambitious project.

January 15th - Manners McDade..... Stuart meets up with managing director Catherine, and A&R manager Ruby and is delighted to sign up to the publishing arm of renowned composer agency Manners McDade. Looking forward to a fruitful relationship going forward.

2013

December 9th - The SNAPSHOT SONGS Choir is born!..... SHM and the Barbican team host a pre-Christmas gathering of the newly-formed Snapshot Songs Choir on the Milton Court stage that they will be performing on five months hence. Members of Only Connect, Futureband and Body & Soul come along too. It's a really exciting evening, featuring impromtu performances of three of the work-in-progress songs (including Body & Soul's blossoming anthem 'Brave'), and with this diverse bunch of Londoners meeting each other properly for the first time. The evening culminates in a mass vocal jam on the stage, sowing the seeds for a new choir song for the cycle.

December 4th - Harvey Nichols? - sorry, I spent it on myself..... a subversive Christmas campaign from Adam&Eve DDB for Harvey Nics turns the festive giving season on its head - creating a range of budget gifts that leave more left over to spend on oneself. Stuart creates a new orchestral arrangement of 'Silent Night' that complements the sarcasm of the ad - and helps the range sell out within 3 days of the ad breaking online and in cinemas... Have a look-see on the showreel page here.

November 21st - Hollywood Music In Media Awards..... Stuart travels to LA to attend the ceremony at Hollywood's Fonda Theatre, where Picturehouse and The Last Belle are in the running for gongs. It's a glitzy affair, a real slice of Americana, and whilst Stuart ultimately comes away empty-handed, he makes the most of his short time in La-la-land with several important meetings scheduled. These include hanging out with composer James Peterson in Santa Monica, breakfast with Aussie arranger and session conductor Tim Davies (and a chance to see him at work recording at the Sony Scoring Stage for the 'Need For Speed' score), and introductory meetings with Mike Todd at ASCAP and composer agents Randy Gerston (first artists management) and Seth Kaplan (Evolution Music Partners).

November - SNAPSHOT SONGS auditions..... Stuart and the team hold informal auditions to put together a brand new choir - not something you do every day! The venue is Milton Court at the Barbican Centre, where the song cycle will ultimately have its premiere performance. Approximately 200 singers attend the group audition workshops on Nov 16th, 17th and 30th, with many familiar faces returning for more of what they enjoyed at the taster sessions over the past few weeks. A wealth of talent is on display, together with a real enthusiasm for the collaborative nature of the project, as, after all, the songs will be written for, about, and in partnership with these people - representing, as they do, a truly diverse 'snapshot' of London right now.

November 10th and 24th - Futureband Sessions..... Snapshot Songs collaborations continue with Stuart taking part in workshops with the Barbican's young composers' group Futureband, led by the inspirational Detta Danford and Natasha Zielazinski. Stuart starts by presenting the children with copies of photos taken by the Barbican Young Photographers group to get the creative juices flowing. Images of the Olympic Orbit sculpture, the city lights and busy commuters prove particularly inspiring, and over the course of the two sessions, creativity blossoms in the form of lyrics, themes and rhythms that Stuart can take away and hopefully expand into an exciting and colourful song for the cycle.

October 30th - The Next Big Thing..... last Wednesday of the month means it's an Only Connect Big Wednesday at the members' club in King's Cross. And it's an especially big one for Snapshot Songs, as ten of the talented members perform their varied responses to 'The Next Big Thing'. It's a thrilling evening of brilliantly produced song, rap and hip-hop: Stuart comes away buoyed with the excitement of it all, and hatching plans for translating a medley of three or four of the stand-out songs and giving them a symphonic/choral treatment.

October 17th - Body & Soul..... is a pioneering charity based in Angel, dedicated to transforming the lives of children, teenagers and families living with, or affected by HIV. Stuart is privileged to start his involvement with the Project Jam group of teens at Body & Soul to start busking ideas for a new song for Snapshot Songs. 'Bravery' becomes the front-runner for the theme of the song: the bravery to be courageous and not let anything or anyone stop you from shining or being yourself. An uplifting song takes shape over the coming weeks, and looks set to be a real winner in the cycle!

October - SNAPSHOT SONGS further workshops..... the Snapshot Songs project builds momentum with more vocal taster workshops held all over London at venues including the Barbican (Oct 8th), Fellows Court Community Centre, Hoxton (Oct 12th), Artizan Street Community Centre, E1 (Oct 19th) and Newham 6th Form College (Oct 31st). Many singers and spoken word enthusiasts of all styles come and join, and the process culminates with an exhilarating sing-along in the forecourt of Westfield Shopping Centre in Shepherd's Bush on Nov 3rd, led by the effervescent Luke Crookes. Hoards of unsuspecting Sunday shoppers coming together to busk Hey Jude and Bohemian Rhapsody will live long in the memory, together with the solo performances of octagenarians Martin Landau and Stanley Blum.

October 15th - UNKNOWN HEART, part 2..... The musicians assemble to record Stuart's score for the conclusion of Giles Foster's powerful TV drama. Not a dry eye in the house as affairs of the heart are played out to an emotional conclusion. Set for broadcast in Europe in April 2014. See a clip here.

October 14th - New promo for Picturehouse..... the boutique cinema chain (with production company Capture) create a second promo spot, again capturing the excitement and poetry of cinema-going. Stuart completes music for the ad, and hopes it generates as much interest as its predecessor did (a short score that many fans - one of whom even requested permission to walk his bride down the aisle to it!)

October 9th - Next stop, HOLLYWOOD!..... The final nominations for the 6th edition of the Hollywood Music In Media Awards are announced. Stuart's jaw hits the floor as he realises that two of his favourite scores have received nods: the music for the current PICTUREHOUSE ad is recognised in the Best Commercial Score category, and THE LAST BELLE is short-listed is in the highly competitive Best Indie/Short Film category. The HMMAs, to be held at the Fonda Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, LA, on November 21st, are a premiere film music industry destination prior to the traditional awards season where A-List Composers, Producers, Songwriters, Music Supervisors, Technology Companies and Music Legends are honored for their contributions in Film, TV, Video Games, Movie Trailers and other visual media. Stuart has booked his flights, and will be crossing the pond and rubbing shoulders with the greats on the red carpet next month.

September 28th - VIOLETTA D'ORO in Parma..... Stuart is overjoyed to receive the grand prize - the exquisite Violetta D'Oro (Golden Violet) - at the Parma International Music Film Festival in Italy. It's a thoroughly classy affair in the city that Verdi hails from, and THE DESERT TREASURE (Plants of Qatar) is the big winner at the dinner-gala ceremony where HAWK also garners honourable nominations for Best Film and Best Actor (the late great Philip Madoc). Huge thanks to the hospitality of festival director Eddy Lovaglio and maestro Riccardo Moretti, and for the splendid after-dinner company of trophy-designer Claudia Oddi and the Italian Head of Sony Music Publishing, Roberto Mancinelli. See the full list of award-winners here.

September 19th - UNKNOWN HEART, part 1..... Recording day with the fabulous musicians of the London Telefilmonic Orchestra on Stuart's lush score for part 1 of the sweeping romantic drama "Unknown Heart". Great performances in starring roles from Greg Wise, James Fox, and the ever-ravishing Jane Seymour. Giles Foster directs, with scoring already underway on part 2.

September 14th - SNAPSHOT SONGS First vocal workshops..... Stuart and the Barbican/SHM team hold the first of many planned vocal taster workshops for Snapshot Songs in the Fountain Room of the Barbican Centre. Delighted to be joined by around 90 enthusiastic singers from all walks of life for three invigorating two-hour vocal workouts, with the wonderful Liv Bradbury at the helm. A terrific start that shows the enormous potential of the project! Looking forward to the next sessions on Tuesday 8th Oct, 6pm (Barbican) and Saturday 12th Oct (10am, 1pm, 3.30pm) at Fellows Court Community Centre, E2. Subscribe at snapshotsongs.com to get involved!

September 2nd - THIS MORNING theme music..... The new Autumn series of ITV's staple daytime programme THIS MORNING - now in its 25th year! - kicks off today with a new-look title sequence and with the famous theme music newly arranged by Stuart. Wonderful to be part of such a high profile programme, and thanks to hosts Philip and Holly for quickly (and correctly) identifying the trumpets and French horns in the track! Have a listen here.

September 1st - SNAPSHOT SONGS goes LIVE!..... SnapshotSongs.com finally goes live - check it out! Over the next couple of months, Stuart and the Barbican/SHM team will be seeking singers (both potential soloists and choir members) for the project, and holding informal vocal 'taster' sessions and auditions at the Barbican. Subscribe on the site itself to be in the loop!

August 21st - Only Connect..... Snapshot Songs gets the collaborative ball rolling in Kings Cross with Only Connect Central - the members' club for prisoners, ex-offenders and youth at risk. A lively debate about ambition and what it means to be the 'next big thing' gets the creative juices flowing for a song as part of the Snapshots cycle.

August 10th - 3 MOBILE - Pug 123..... Pay As You Go just got interesting!! Stuart goes into trailer music mode with choir, orchestra and thumping drums to capture the epicness of 3 Mobile's New Pay-As-You-Go mascot - a pug with a SIM round his neck. All over your TV screens now and on the showreel page.

July 5th - New season of Pilchers..... The new season of the ever-popular TV movies kicks off with the classic romance "Alte Herzen". Stuart orchestrates and produces the soundtrack.

July 2nd - Carling - 'The Catch'..... Stuart composes a bombastic orchestral soundtrack for a spot in Carling's new summer campaign - 'It's good...but it's not quite Carling...'. Cricket, ice-cream, beer, nuns bottle-feeding a lamb...? It's all here on the showreel page.

June 26th - BEST COMPOSER 2013 at the JERRY GOLDSMITH AWARDS..... What a night! Stuart travels to the International Film Music Festival of Cordoba, Andalucia, to attend the 2013 Awards ceremony, where HAWK and PLANTS OF QATAR are up against stiff worldwide competition but are very much in the running for awards in the Feature Film and Documentary categories. Hawk finishes a close runner-up to Marc Timon's 'The Little Wizard' soundtrack, but PLANTS OF QATAR brings home the bacon in the documentary class. To crown a magnificent evening for Stuart, he is declared Best Composer overall and receives the year's coveted Jerry Goldsmith statuette. See all the details on the Awards website here. It is an absolute honour to receive such recognition from the jury of BSO Spirit, and also to meet Conrado Xalabarder and so many amazing fellow composers from all nations. Other highlights from the festival include the Malaga Symphony Orchestra playing an exquisite programme of film music by Elmer Bernstein and Marco Beltrami, with the latter in attendance. A wonderful festival in a beautiful part of the world. Next stop - the Parma International Film Music Festival, where, again, both HAWK and PLANTS OF QATAR are in competition.

June 18th - Snapshot Songs update..... Things continue to progress with Snapshot Songs, as Stuart presents his song compositions to SHM, collaborative plans with various groups are cemented, and the first vocal taster sessions are planned.

June 6th - Expedia - 'Travel Yourself Interesting'..... Dry sarcasm is the overriding sentiment of Ogilvy&Mather's new Expedia campaign. Stuart provides the appropriately sarcastic soundtrack to the ads, on your TV screens this summer and on the showreel page here.

May 28th - Jerry Goldsmith Awards - TWO NOMINATIONS..... Stuart is delighted to have his film music recognised with two nominations at the BSO Spirit Jerry Goldsmith Awards. Both HAWK (for Best Music in a Feature-Length Film), and PLANTS OF QATAR (for Best Music in a Documentary) have made it through to the shortlists, with the ceremony taking place in Cordoba, Spain on June 26th.

May 24th - Jerry Goldsmith Awards - Pre-Selection..... News filters through that Stuart's work has been pre-selected for consideration at the BSO Spirit Jerry Goldsmith Awards 2013, part of the Festival Internacional de Musica de Cine, in Cordoba, Spain. Delighted that of the 5 categories he submitted work for, he has been long-listed in all 5: Hawk for Best Music in a Feature-Length Film (over 30 minutes), The Last Belle for Best Music in an Animated Short, Plants of Qatar for Best Music in a Documentary, Picturehouse for Best Music in a Commercial, and Olympic Shorts for Best Music in a Promo. Short-lists are to be published early next week - watch this space! (Full pre-selections listed here.

May 22nd - Flight of the Ford Bumblebee..... Much fun is had recording a vintage-style arrangement of the Rimsky-Korsakov classic 'Flight of the Bumblebee' to accompany a new Ford commercial for rear-view camera technology. Watch it on the showreel here - and marvel at the nimble lips and fingers of the fantastic Joe Auckland (trumpet) and Sarah Crisp (violin)!

April/May - Snapshot Songs update..... Stuart's long-term concert project is beggining to take shape, especially in terms of the relationships being formed with various creative collaborative groups. Stuart and his SHM colleagues have toured the almost-finished Milton Court Concert Hall - which is fabulous - where the April 2014 premiere will take place with the LSSO, Drumheads, soloists and choir. Creative collaboration in the offing with the Barbican Young Poets, Futureband, Barbican Young Filmmakers and Only Connect. Exciting times ahead!

March 22nd - Thatchers' Somerset Cider..... Martyn Pick directs and Stuart scores Bray Leino's lovely commercial for Thatchers' "Gold" Somerset Cider. On air in the spring and summer (if winter actually decides to ever bugger off...?!)

March 8th - RAIN DANCE to get another outing - Stateside!..... Stuart is delighted to receive confirmation from across the pond today that North Cambridge Family Opera will be staging his youth opera Rain Dance next year. Three years on from W11's stunning premiere at Riverside Studios, the villainous Tau (the role created by BGT's superstar-in-the-making Jonathan Antoine) will be roaring once more in Massachusetts in April 2014. Catch a clip from W11's finale here.

January 24th - Bray-doh for Bray Leino..... Jon Elsom of ad agency Bray Leino hires Stuart to play the piano, badly! Stuart does his best Les-Dawson-esque slaying of Beethoven's 'Fur Elise' for the agency's signature blue play-doh ('Bray-doh') animated figure.

January 15th - BEST ORIGINAL SCORE for Hawk at Idyllwild, California..... It's awards season for the film industry, and 2013 gets off to a tremendous start for Stuart and the boys from Capture: HAWK wins Best Original Score in the Featurette category of the prestigious Idyllwild Cinema Festival in California, a stone's throw from Hollywood. Hawk also wins Best Cinematography. All that hard work paid off! The Hawk album remains on sale on iTunes and MovieScore Media, and you can catch a clip of the opening sequence here.

2012

December 6th - Christmas with FERRERO ROCHER (USA)..... Stuart gets all Christmassy with some festive music for a Ferrero Rocher commercial. Not for the Ambassador's reception (remember that?), but for our American cousins. "Happy Holidays", as they say across the pond!

December 1st - Eurobest GOLD for Best Sound Design - more honours for 'Hero's Return'..... Another fabulous accolade for Camelot/National Lottery's emotional 'Hero's Return' commercial, featuring Stuart's music - GOLD for Best Sound Design at 'Eurobest' - the European Festival of Creativity, and currently the biggest and most prestigious awards for Europe's creative communications industry. It also picks up a silver for Best Direction.

November 28th - Snapshot Songs latest..... Stuart is chuffed to meet up with another talented young poet, and fellow Essex-boy - Luke Wright - with whom he hopes to collaborate on a Snapshot Song or two. Check out Luke and his work here.

November 15th - Music for PHILIPS Sensotouch 3D..... The shaver with an answer for every face... Ogilvy & Mather's spot for the the Philips Sensotouch features Stuart's piano music - a combination of Herrmann-inspired horror and a Joplin rag. Weird...but wonderful...! See it on the showreel page soon.

October/November - The Plants of Qatar..... Stuart is delighted to complete the mixes for his new score for Rock Wallaby's latest nature documentary for Qatar National Day. This year's masterpiece weaves a tale of desert life and the often surprising and beautiful plant life of the region. Plenty of scope for another lush orchestral/Arabic score from Stuart, again recorded with the magnificent Bratislava Symphony Orchestra. Clip on the showreel page here.

September 26th - THE OTHER WIFE, part 2..... The sweeping mini-series concludes. Rupert Everett gets his comeuppance, of course, but not without putting those around him through the emotional wringer. The London Telefilmonic musicians record Stuart's music with consummate brilliance once again. Set to air on European screens on Christmas Day - don't miss it!

September 20th - Stu'n'Snoop are 'Pick of the Week'..... Another Campaign "Pick", this time for the Adidas/Footlocker spot "Let's Roll", featuring Stuart and Snoop Dogg's homage to Holst... Jeremy Lee is impressed: "Retail advertising doesn't need to be boring, after all. It's easy to forget that this is simply an ad to sell shoes at Foot Locker - it just looks so much bigger than that." Read the article in full here.

September 15th - GOLD for BEST MUSIC at the Kinsale Sharks for 'Hero's Return'..... The Hero's Return spot for Camelot garners multiple awards at the prestigious Kinsale Sharks awards. The poignant ad for the National Lottery's good causes picks up four GOLD awards in the Broadcast Category: Best Direction, Best Editing, Best Cinema, and, most gratifyingly for Stuart as a composer, Best Music and Sound Design. Fantastic to get the recognition of one's peers! See The ad here on the Showreel Page.

September 13th - More honours for HAWK..... Hawk is bestowed the Award Of Excellence from the California-based, IMDB-connected Accolade Competition - a unique showcase for cinematic gems and unique voices in film, rewarding exceptional achievement in craft and creativity. Stuart is very proud to have been part of one such film.

September 12th - THE OTHER WIFE, part 1..... Stuart completes composition and orchestration on the first part of a new Giles Foster-directed mini-series. "The Other Wife", starring Rupert Everett, John Hannah, Melia Kreiling and Phyllida Law, charts the unravelling of the double-life of a man with wives and children on both sides of the Atlantic. Splendid performances from the ensemble cast, notably a juicy turn from Everett as the villain of the piece. Part 2 to follow.

September 7th - Coke Zero - "Unlock the 007 in You"..... Publicis France, in the run-up to next month's release of the new Bond film 'Skyfall', produce a stunt-filled Coke Zero TV ad, in which the average bloke unlocks his inner-Bond and gets the girl (and the Coke). Stuart relishes getting stuck into a full re-record of the seminal John Barry/Monty Norman original theme, involving recording several live brass musicians and guitarist to accompany the on-screen humming and musical sound FX (provided by Factory). See the ad here on youtube and on the showreel page soon.

September 4th - 'Let's Roll' - Stu 'n' SNOOP DOGG..... an obvious pairing, you'd think. Stuart provides the orchestra (a re-record of Holst's iconic Mars from 'The Planets') and Snoop provides da beatz for a stunning Adidas/Footlocker ad for Alex & Steffen of Creature, London. Catch it on the showreel page soon.

August 12th - THE LAST BELLE - triumph at Rhode Island..... Following last year's Best Comedy Short win for Gin & Dry, Stuart's movies continue their good form at the Rhode Island International Film Festival with The Last Belle picking up Best Animated Film. Well-deserved for Neil Boyle's comedic masterpiece; watch Wally's downfall here on the Showreel Page.

July 27th - London 2012 OPENING CEREMONY..... After months of building excitement in the run-up to the games, on a whim, Stuart splashes some of his hard-earned cash on a pair of last-minute tickets to the Opening Ceremony! Danny Boyle's spectacular is a feast for the senses, and a stunning opener to London 2012, and it feels pretty special to be there at the start of something so magnificent. It's going to be very hard to get a whole lot of work done over the next couple of months with so much wonderful sport to come on the telly...

July 20th-23rd - Concert in the Pyrenees..... Stuart travels to the picturesque town of Leran, France, nestled in the Pyrenees between Toulouse and Carcasonne. Here he plays piano for the splendid local choir, and accompanies majestic sopranos Penny Chalmers and Virginia Kerr in a delightful concert full of musical variety.

July 19th - December 14th - New season of Rosamunde Pilcher films..... Stuart once again provides orchestrations for Richard Blackford's romantic scores for the ever-popular Rosamunde Pilcher TV movies. Five scores orchestrated and recorded, airing from the autumn.

May 17th - Olympic Shorts..... Hot on the heels of their double triumph at Camarthen Bay, Stuart completes work for Capture's beautifully constructed spot for the London 2012 Festival Films - held next month at Picturehouse Cinemas. The visuals play on the 'shards' of the London 2012 branding, whilst Stuart's guitar-based music gives the whole thing an uplifting feel. See the spot here on the Showreel Page.

May 14th - Double Whammy at CARMARTHEN BAY..... Not one, but two different films featuring Stuart's music pick up gongs at the 2012 Carmarthen Bay Film Festival. Best Short Film goes to Hawk, whilst Gin & Dry lands Best Comedy - see clips of them both on the showreel page. Well done to the boys at Capture!

May 1st - SNAPSHOT SONGS Meetings..... The song cycle project in collaboration with the SHM Foundation, now officially called "Snapshot Songs", continues to progress with meetings today for Stuart with Sean Gregory at the Barbican's Creative Learning Department, and with performance poet Mat Lloyd at the Truman Brewery - the latter to discuss setting his brilliant poem "This City" to music as the possible opener to the song cycle. Read more about Mat and his work here.

April 24th - Nike "La Masia" revisited..... Stuart scores a second episode in the "La Masia/The Chance" series of ads for Nike Football - a variation of the first flamenco track, but with a big celebratory feel to it.

March 27th - Wiedersehen in Malaysia..... Stuart orchestrates another sweeping TV movie for the European market, "Wiedersehen in Malaysia" (See You In Malaysia). The usual blend of soaring romantic orchestration, together with a subtle Far-Eastern flavour.

March 24th - Jonathan Antoine's Got Talent..... Back in late 2010, Stuart met and worked with the brilliant Jonathan Antoine, who was cast as the villain in his W11 Opera - Raindance. Jonathan was 15 at the time, and wowed us all with his fully-fledged tenor vocals. Now 17, he's given Britain's Got Talent a go. And knocked Simon Cowell and the nation for six in his first audition! High hopes that he can go all the way with equally talented singing partner Charlotte Jaconelli. Listen to Jonathan in Raindance here.

March 21st - 5-4-3-2-1..... Stuart has fun producing a faithful re-record of Manfred Mann's classic for a children's clothing ad for Asda. Harmonica legend Martin Simons brings it to life! On your TV and radio now.

March 9th - Nike "La Masia"..... Stuart composes a flamenco-inspired orchestral/choral soundtrack for Nike's "The Chance" campaign, which stars FC Barcelona's manager Pep Guardiola, the club's training camp "La Masia" and its search for young football talent.

March 22nd - Another week, another "Pick"!..... "Pick of the Week" in Campaign and also in PRWeek for a 2nd time this month with Camelot "Hero's Return" and Stuart's music/sound design with Factory. Jeremy Lee says, "This spot is beautiful and moving". See the ad on the showreel page.

March 1st - Hedgehog-of-the-Week..... Stuart's recently-scored Lactofree spot for Wieden & Kennedy garners Campaign's Pick Of The Week. "What's not to like?" says Anne Cassidy! See the ad on the showreel page.

February 28th - "Lactofree" is Ad of the Week!..... Delighted to see the Lactofree hedgehogs have won over The Reel, and are awarded Ad of the Week! The Reel says: "the adorable visuals of the prickly fellas dreaming of a world where they can drink coffee and eat buttered crumpets will surely melt your heart enough to give the brand a go". See the ad on the showreel page and read the whole article here..

February 23rd - National Lottery/Camelot commercial "Hero's Return"..... Stuart produces a dark textural soundscape to accompany this beautifully-shot commercial for Camelot, showcasing one of the good causes (war veterans) supported by the National Lottery. It's on your TV screens till March 31st and is one of Campaign's Ads of the Week - see it here on the showreel page.

February 9th - Listen up hedgehogs!..... Stuart scores a lovely ad for Lactofree from Wieden & Kennedy, featuring supermarket-shopping hedgehogs (intolerant to the sugars in lactose, apparently!). See the ad on the showreel page.

February 6th - Composer-in-residency with SHM..... Fresh back in the UK, and Stuart's year-long association with the SHM Foundation officially starts. It's going to be a very interesting and challenging year, with new ways of working and composing to explore - hopefully culminating in a high-profile premier concert performance sometime in the first half of 2013. Keep on eye on this page for updates!

2011

December 23rd - The Badge of Al-Rayyan..... No sooner has the dust settled on the Qatar Dream 2030 project than Rock Wallaby enlist Stuart to produce some music tracks for "The Badge of Al-Rayyan" - a reality TV show based around the mysterious and fascinating world of camel racing and camel trainers. Stuart records about 30 minutes' worth of new music for director Andrew Barron and producer Lyndal Davies, covering a diverse range of moods. A long Christmas/January break down under has been very well earned!

November 19th-23rd - Qatar Dream 2030..... Stuart's big project for the last couple of months has been to work once again with Mark Strickson of Rock Wallaby Productions on their latest commissions from Qatar for National Day (December 18th). This year's project is a series of fifteen 7-minute films featuring the children of Qatar, transported on the Fast Train to the Future and living out their dream future career in the year 2030. Stuart masterminds the wall-to-wall scoring of all the films, together with the orchestration of some colourful QND songs and logos - approximately two hours' worth of new music, all recorded in an intense, but ultimately very satisfying two days of recording with the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra.

November 9th - Picturehouse Cinemas..... Matthew Jones (director) and MJ McMahon (producer), the Capture boys that brought you "Hawk", commission Stuart to score their cinema commercial for the Picturehouse Cinemas brand. A beautifully observed and shot piece of film - see it here on the showreel page.

November 8th - Talks with the Barbican..... Stuart attends a very positive meeting with the Barbican's Director of Creative Learning, Sean Gregory, Head of Development, Lynette Brooks, and Head of Cinema, Robert Rider, together with SHM's Anna Kydd and Henrietta Moore to discuss initial ideas for the zeitgeist-themed song cycle that SHM are commissioning from Stuart, and how the Creative Learning Unit might get involved in its creation and performance. Stuart's composer-in-residency with SHM is due to officially begin in February 2012.

October 21st - VIOLIN CONCERTO..... After a long wait since the splendid premier (June 2005), and after a false start last December, Stuart's Violin Concerto is performed once again on the concert stage. In a specially-commissioned slimline orchestration for the St Pauls Sinfonia, Andy Morley and his orchestra deliver a beautiful and sensitive performance, but the star of the show is, of course, violin soloist Paul Barrett. He was good in '05, but this time he is simply brilliant. Mary (his Mrs) and the composer sit in the stalls mesmerised, and ever-so-slightly emotional to be re-visiting what seems like a dear old friend of a piece after such a long absence.... Listen to two excerpts on the showreel page.

October 19th - December 18th - Pilchers 3, 4 and 5..... Stuart squeezes in orchestrations for the next three Rosamunde Pilcher sagas for ZDF Television.

October 12th - Cast'n'crew premier of The Last Belle..... Neil Boyle finally unleashes his exquisite animation on an excited crowd at the Srrening Room at MPC, Wardour Street. Laughs come thick and fast and Stuart's music score, recorded with the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, sounds glorious with the genius animation. There is talk of a Last Belle 2, but given how long this one took (14 years) and how many production babies were in the credits, it might be a while coming...! In the meantime, The Last Belle looks set to wow other audiences at forthcoming festivals this month (the Paris, Bradford, and BFI London Film Festivals) together with Gin & Dry (at the Austin (Texas) and Raindance (London) Film Festivals).

October 2nd and 10th - "This September" parts 3 and 4..... Two more sessions at Pinewood see the completion of the scores for the sweeping saga "This September", directed by Giles Foster, and starring the magnificent Charles Dance. Stuart's work on the scores helps chart the trials and tribulations of the stormy Aird dynasty, and will be coming to European TV screens at Christmas.

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 23rd - GIN & DRY Festival Win!..... Oscar Plewes' brilliant short comedy Gin & Dry garners it first festival award - winning Best Comedy Short at the prestigious Rhode Island International Film Festival. The first of many such awards....? See the chase sequence on the Showreel Page.

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 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 and enjoy The ad on the showreel page 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.

"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.

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.

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.

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..... 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. 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.

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.