Hannah Peel

Hannah Mary Peel (born 27 August 1985) is a Northern Irish Ivor Novello award winning composer, producer and broadcaster. Her solo music is primarily electronic, synthesiser-based and often includes classical scoring and sound design, with references to the links between science, nature and music. She has scored music for television, film, theatre and dance. Including her Emmy nominated score to Game of Thrones: The Last Watch (a special documentary)  and the British science fiction TV series on Sky Max The Midwich Cuckoos which won Peel an Ivor Novello award in 2023.

Peel releases her solo records on her own imprint label, My Own Pleasure Records. This includes her 2021 Mercury Music Prize nominated Fir Wave, Awake But Always Dreaming and Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia.

Hannah Peel has been a regular weekly broadcaster on BBC Radio 3's Night Tracks since 2019.

Aside from her solo work, Peel has worked with collaborators on projects including orchestrations and conducting for Paul Weller, an album written for the British Paraorchestra, an album with the poet Will Burns, and as a member of the psychogeography indie rock group The Magnetic North and the electronic music group John Foxx and the Maths.

Early life
Peel was born in Craigavon, Northern Ireland, on 27 August 1985. When she was eight years old, her family moved to Barnsley in South Yorkshire. Her father was an amateur folk musician, and she joined him in musical gatherings, including holidays in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland. She enrolled in the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts at age 18. There, she studied violin, trombone and piano.

Performer/orchestral arranger/session musician
In 2018, Peel arranged strings and woodwind for Paul Weller's 2018 album True Meanings. Following the release, Peel orchestrated and conducted a small orchestra for his 2019 live album Other Aspects: Live at the Royal Festival Hall which featured songs from True Meanings, The Jam, Style Council and Weller's solo material. She has also orchestrated his record, On Sunset and the album Fat Pop.

TV and film scores
In 2013, Peel won a Royal Television Society Award for Best Title Music for "Chloe", which had been featured in the British television series Dates. The track was individually adapted and rescored for each episode of the series. In February 2014, Peel released the EP Fabricstate which includes "Chloe". The artwork for the EP was created by Karborn and designed by Jonathan Barnbrook.

In 2016, Peel composed the music for Alzheimers Research UK's television and online Christmas campaign, entitled Santa Forgot, and made in collaboration with Aardman Animations.

In 2018, Peel composed the title music to the BBC drama The A List produced by Kindle Entertainment. She also wrote the title music and composed additional scores for the Channel 4/Netflix series Kiss Me First.

In 2019, Peel scored her first feature-length film score to the documentary Game of Thrones: The Last Watch in which she was nominated for a Television Academy Emmy Award.

In 2020, Peel scored the soundtrack to the BAFTA-nominated BBC 2 documentary Lee Miller: A Life on the Frontline.

In 2020, Peel scored the soundtrack for the Channel 5 drama The Deceived written by Lisa McGee.

In 2023, Peel won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Television Soundtrack.

Theatre and dance
In 2012, Peel co-composed the music for the Sadler's Wells Theatre production Compass, working alongside filmmaker and visual artist Tal Rosner and collaborating with choreographers from the Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui Company, the Pina Bausch Company, and Jasmin Vardimon. In 2018, Peel was featured on BBC Radio 4 as part of their portrait series.

In 2018, Peel composed a score featuring synths, live percussion and drums for a new, theatrical adaptation of Brighton Rock by the Pilot Theatre Company. The production toured the UK between February and May 2018. Also in that year, working primarily on music box, Peel created several hand-punched pieces of music for the score to TeZukA about the life of manga artist Osamu Tezuka by the choreographer and dancer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.

Radio presenter
Since 2019, Peel has been a weekly presenter on the BBC Radio 3 show Night Tracks. In 2018, she was a featured guest Radio presenter for five weeks on BBC 6 Music, filling in for Elbow's Guy Garvey, she has also presented specialist music series for BBC Radio Ulster.

Solo

 * 2011: The Broken Wave (Static Caravan)
 * 2016: Awake but Always Dreaming (My Own Pleasure)
 * 2017: Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia (My Own Pleasure)
 * 2018: Particles in Space (My Own Pleasure)
 * 2019: Chalk Hill Blue (Rivertones)
 * 2019: Game Of Thrones: The Last Watch (HBO)
 * 2020: The Deceived (Silva Screen Records)
 * 2021: Fir Wave (My Own Pleasure)
 * 2022: The Midwich Cuckoos (Invada Records)

With The Magnetic North

 * 2012: Orkney: Symphony of The Magnetic North (Full Time Hobby)
 * 2016: Prospect of Skelmersdale (Full Time Hobby)

With John Foxx and the Maths

 * 2013: Rhapsody (Metamatic Records)
 * 2020: Howl (Metamatic Records)

With Philippe Cohen Solal and Mike Lindsay (Tunng)

 * 2021: Outsider (Ya Basta! Records)

With Beyond the Wizards Sleeve

 * 2016: The Soft Bounce (Phantasy)

EPs
with Philippe Cohen Solal and Mike Lindsay (Tunng)
 * 2015: Henry J. Darger (Ya! Basta Records)

Scores

 * 2011: TeZukA by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui – several tracks using hand-punched music
 * 2012: Compass (Sadler's Wells Theatre) – Full score
 * 2012: Anna Karenina soundtrack – several tracks
 * 2013: Dates – title music
 * 2016: Santa Forgot – Alzheimer's Research UK and Aardman Animations – Full score
 * 2018: Brighton Rock - Pilot Theatre - Full live theatre score
 * 2018: Ice Alive - National Geographic - Full score
 * 2018: Kiss Me First – Channel 4 / Netflix – title music and additional scoring
 * 2018: The A List – BBC – title music
 * 2019: Game of Thrones: The Last Watch (TV Special Documentary) – Full score
 * 2019: Cold War Letters - London Calling – BBC 4 - Full score
 * 2020: Close - Irish National Opera - Score
 * 2020: The Deceived – Channel 5 - Full score
 * 2020: Lee Miller: Life On The Frontline – BBC 2 - Full score