TEEN’S MUSIC PLAYS NATION-WIDE

By Jackson Graham
Colah Herald, 9 April 2018

A musical piece by Winchelsea teen Hannah Hunt is playing to crowds in prestigious theatres across Australia.

The 30 second flourish also known as a fanfare, will cue concert-goers to their seas at venues including Art Centre Melbourne, Adelaide Festival Centre, Perth Concert Hall and Queensland Performing Arts Centre.

Hannah, 17, entered her composition in last year’s Artology Foundation’s Fanfare Competition. The nationwide contest selected eight pieces for use at the venues, after being workshopped by acclaimed composer Nicholas Vines and Lyle Chan during two trips to Sydney.

“They helped us broaden and fix things up we may not have picked up when we first submitted and everything, really refine everything and teach us little tips and tricks,” Hannah said.

On a third trip to Sydney, the Australian Youth Orchestra recorded all eight compositions.

“It was so cool,” Hannah said of hearing the orchestra play her piece, which she wrote to include the whole orchestra.

“Sometimes with fanfares, you put the focus on the trumpets, or the percussion and the drums and everything. But my one I just tried to balance it out, and so the orchestra actually had a bit of fun with it.”

The Belmont High School student says she started playing bassoon at the start of high school, but only began to enjoy playing music at the end of Year 8. She has since picked up flute and saxophone.

“I’m getting up to this point where I’m getting all this experience. I learnt so much in such a short space of time,” Hannah said.

She said she had been surprised to find most of the finalists had specialised music teachers or attended private schools.

“It was just me and this other girl who were just two public school kids,” Hannah said.

“At first everyone was all specialised in music, and there were a couple of us who haven’t done it for that long. In the end everyone came together.”

Hannah’s piece called L’Appel, French for ‘the call’, has since been launched the with other seven pieces at the Art Centre Melbourne and the Art Gallery of NSW.
“That was really intimidating. I thought it was going to be a quiet thing, but it was really big,” Hannah said of the launch in Sydney.

She said she was lost for words as to what it felt like to hear her composition played at so many of Australia’s biggest performing arts venues.

“When I first started music and everything I didn’t think it would ever come this far,” Hannah said.

“No one knows what your limits are for anything, and when this happened it just opened my eyes to see I can go however far I can go. And when I hear it it is just so special, it shows you how far you can go if you just try.”