User:Escape Orbit/sandbox/Sarah Hayes

Sarah Hayes is an British folk artist and multi-instrumentalist. She is best known as a member of the indie-folk band Admiral Fallow, but is also a solo artist.

Hayes was a finalist in BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards for three years in a row (2000-02) and has been nominated for the 2015 Composer of The Year in the Scots Trad Music Awards.

Early life
Hayes was born on The Wirral, but moved at the age of two and a half to the village of Warkworth in Northumberland. She learnt recorder, piano and the flute.

Folk singer Sandra Kerr lived nearby and encouraged Hayes to listen to folk music. She also attend Folkworks summer schools and workshops in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Musical career
After being a finalist in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards for three years in a row (2000-02), she attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 2005. There she was awarded a Masters in Music Performance (with distinction)

In 2007 Hayes became a founding member of Brother Louis Collective, forerunner to Admiral Fallow, after meeting fellow band members in college.

Hayes also plays in three classical chamber ensembles two other folk groups, as tutors at summer schools for Folkworks Junior School, Tinto School, and at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Hayes has been nominated in the Composer of The Year category for the Scots Trad Music Awards for 2015

Mainspring
Hayes released her debut EP Mainspring in 2013.

Woven
Woven began as a commission for New Voices, a series designed to produce new work from artists on the Scottish traditional music scene, at the Celtic Connections festival in 2014. It consists of fragments traditional folk songs set to music composed by Hayes. It was released on 20 November 2015

Reviews of the album were positive, with The Scotsman describing Hayes as "a boldly emerging new talent". The Guardian described 'Woven as an "inventive concept work" and "a fresh, emotional collection that shows her skills as a composer, multi-instrumentalist and singer."