Patrick Hawes (born 5 December 1958) is a British composer, conductor, organist and pianist.
Biography Born in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England, the son of publican parents, Hawes grew up along the Lincolnshire coast and was educated at De Aston School. He read music at St Chad's College, University of Durham as organ scholar, and was also conductor of the University Chamber Choir and the University Symphony Orchestra. During his research year, he founded and conducted the University Chamber Singers.
He went on to work as a teacher of music and English, firstly at Pangbourne College (1981–1990) where he produced his first major work, the dramatic cantata The Wedding at Cana.Justin Gummer; Pangbourne College 1989-92 This led to him becoming Composer in Residence at Charterhouse School (1990–1997).
Leaving teaching in 1997 to pursue his career as a composer, he wrote his first film score in 2002 for The Incredible Mrs Ritchie, directed by Paul Johansson. His debut album Blue in Blue, a collection of choral and orchestral pieces, was released in 2004. Made 'CD of the Week' on Classic FM in 2004, it was nominated for a Classical Brit award and was voted by Classic FM listeners as the fastest ever and highest new entry into the station's Hall of Fame. The first track on the album Quanta Qualia was subsequently covered by Hayley Westenra for her 2005 album Odyssey and a new arrangement with saxophone also featured on the 2014 Voces8 album Eventide.
From 2006 to 2007 Hawes was Composer in Residence at Classic FM where he was commissioned to write twelve pieces for piano, with each premiered over a twelve-month period. The pieces were inspired by his move to the Norfolk coast and by the skies and landscapes of the county. The resulting album Towards the Light was voted by Classic FM listeners as the highest new entry in the 2007 Hall of Fame. and a national tour followed.
April 2009 saw the release of Hawes's third album Song of Songs which consists of six choral pieces for strings and voices along with other works for choir and organ. The recording features the English Chamber Orchestra, Hawes's own choir Conventus and the soprano Elin Manahan Thomas. Hawes joined forces with Thomas once again, and also with Julian Lloyd Webber, for his subsequent album Fair Albion: Visions of England.
Hawes was commissioned by HRH Charles, Prince of Wales to write the Highgrove Suite in 2009. This began as a one-movement work for harp and strings and was premiered at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on the Prince's sixtieth birthday by the royal harpist Claire Jones and the Philharmonia Orchestra.Classic FM - Patrick Hawes: Composer biography. Classicfm.com, Accessed 19 April 2014 Three pieces for the same forces completed the suite, each inspired by an aspect of Prince's garden at Highgrove House. The suite premiered at Highgrove on 8 June 2010. A BBC2 Alan Titchmarsh documentary about the gardens at Highgrove and the musical process and aired on 23 September 2010.
Hawes' Lazarus Requiem premiered at the Cadogan Hall, London in 2008 and the work was recorded in January 2012 by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Exeter Philharmonic Choir, Exeter Cathedral Choir and the soloists Thomas Walker, Elin Manahan Thomas, Rachael Lloyd, and Julian Rippon. The cathedral premiere took place in Exeter on 17 March 2012. The work intersperses the traditional Latin Requiem text with an account in English of the raising of Lazarus from St John's Gospel.
In 2013, Hawes signed to Decca Records and his album with them, Angel, was released on 3 March 2014 and secured Hawes' first Number One in the classical charts. Recorded with soprano Grace Davidson, the Choir of New College, Oxford and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra the album depicts angels in their many forms.
As part of the commemorations of remembrance to mark the First World War, Hawes was commissioned by the Sheringham & Cromer Choral Society in Norfolk to write a large-scale work for choir and orchestra based on the life of nurse Edith Cavell, a heroine of the war who saved many hundreds of soldiers at great risk to herself. The work, Eventide: In Memoriam Edith Cavell was premiered in Norwich Cathedral in July 2014. Hawes was commissioned to write a work for the Aliquando Choir of Henley-upon-Thames based on the words of the Wilfred Owen poem I know the Music for their commemoration of the First World War in November 2014. Another work written by Hawes to commemorate the first battle of the First World War was entitled The Angel of Mons. It premiered in his brother's church in Edenham, Lincolnshire on 23 August 2014, the centenary of the date on which the apparition of the Angel of Mons was said to have occurred.
In 2015, Hawes produced his clarinet concerto for Emma Johnson which Gramophone called "musically nourishing...a fine work...gorgeous..." In 2017 he wrote two pieces for The King's Singers one in Latin and the other in English both based on the same text Musica Dei Donum and The Gift of Music.
His eighth album, Revelation, released on Naxos Records February 2017, saw Hawes collaborate with Grammy and Juno-nominated Elora Singers, Canada. The album features two collections - Revelation which sets the dramatic text from St John's Book of Revelation and Beatitudes sets Jesus' words from the Sermon on the Mount - and standalone pieces exploring key sentences from the New Testament.
In 2018, he recorded and premiered his largest work to date: The Great War Symphony. This work is a choral symphony in four movements, with each movement depicting a year of World War I. On its release in September 2018, the recording reached No.1 in the Specialist Classical Charts. The work received its World Premiere at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 9 October 2018 and its US premiere at Carnegie Hall in New York on 11 November 2018 (Armistice Day).
In 2019, he was made an Honorary Fellow of his alma mater St Chad's College, University of Durham.
In 2020 he wrote the carol "Still, Still the Night", with words by his brother Andrew Hawes, for The Self-Isolation Choir: a UK-based virtual choir to which he had taught his Quanta Qualia earlier in the year. The carol was premiered at the choir's virtual Nine Lessons and Carols on 20 December 2020.
In 2021, he released his tenth album The Fire of Love. Recorded with The Same Stream Choir and James Jordan (conductor), it features two choral collections the first based on the writings of 14th century English hermit Richard Rolle and the second based on the Songs of Innocence by William Blake. And in October 2023 he released his first Christmas album - The Nativity - recorded with the Voce Chamber Choir of Connecticut.
The world premiere of his oratorioThe Son of Man took place in Houston, Texas in September 2024 with the Houston Chamber Choir and Houston Symphony.
He currently lives near the Norfolk coast, and is inspired by the beauty of nature, English literature and heritage, and his Christian faith."Interview: Patrick Hawes" , Church Times, 21 March 2014. Accessed 19 April 2014 Hawes remains a keen organist, holding the Fellowship award from the Royal College of Organists.
List of works
Choral
A Stranger Here for SATB & Piano (commissioned by the Mohawk High School Choral & Performing Arts) All Princely Graces for SATB and Military Band (commissioned by the Bands of the Household Division (United Kingdom) and the Royal Choral Society) Angelus Domini for SATB unaccompanied (written for Edward Higginbottom and the Choir of New College, Oxford) Archangel Suite for soloists, SATB, harp & strings Michael Raphael Gabriel Uriel Anthem for Doomed Youth for SATB & orchestra Ave Maria for SATB unaccompanied Behold The King for SATB & Organ Be Still for SATB unaccompanied Beatitudes for SATB & piano (written for The Elora Singers, Canada) The Poor in Spirit Those Who Mourn The Meek Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness The Merciful The Pure in Heart The Peacemakers Those who are Persecuted for Righteousness’ Sake Blue in Blue for SATB & piano or harp Cantate Domino for soprano, SA, organ & baritone saxophone (written for soprano Grace Davidson and saxophonist Christian Forshaw) Christian Soldiers arr. for SATB & orchestra Come To Me for SATB unaccompanied Come, Lord Jesus for SATB & organ (commissioned by St Chad’s College, Durham) Deep Harvests for SATB & two pianos Dressed in Blue for soprano, SA, harp & cello Eventide: In Memoriam Edith Cavell for soprano, SATB, semi-chorus of trebles & orchestra or chamber orchestra & organ (commissioned by the Sheringham & Cromer Choral Society) Factum est Silentium for SATB & solo violin Four Christmas Motets for SATB unaccompanied Virga Jesse Puer Natus Nesciens Mater Gaudete Omnes Gallipoli for SATB & orchestra (text: Sydney Bolitho) Hark! The Herald Angels Sing arr. for SATB & organ with optional brass & percussion Hearts of England for tenor, SATB & orchestra (commissioned for the Rugby League World Cup final at Wembley Stadium 2008) I Know The Music for soprano, SATB & strings (commissioned by the Aliquando Choir, Henley based on the unfinished poem by Wilfred Owen) In Bethlehem, That Noble Place for SATB unaccompanied I Saw the Lord for SATB & Organ (commissioned by the Choir of Magdalen College School, Oxford) Illumina for SATB unaccompanied Italian Song for countertenor, TTBB & chamber orchestra Joseph’s Carol for TTBB & organ King Jesus Hath a Garden arr. for SSAA & organ Lazarus Requiem for soprano, mezzo, tenor, baritone, SATB chorus, SATB semi-chorus, baritone saxophone & orchestra Let Us Love for SATB & piano Listen to the Voice of the Lord for SATB unaccompanied Little Ones for divided soprano voices & piano Lullay My Liking for ATBarB unaccompanied Millennium Psalms for tenor & SATB unaccompanied Minstrels for SATB unaccompanied Most Glorious Lord of Life for SATB & organ (commissioned by Wells Cathedral), based on the poem by Edmund Spenser Musica Dei Donum for AATBarBarB (commissioned by The King’s Singers) My Dearest Wish for SATB & organ (commissioned by Lincoln Cathedral for the centenary of the death of Edward King (bishop of Lincoln)) O Come, All Ye Faithful arr. for SATB & organ with optional brass & percussion O Lord Our Governor for SATB & organ (commissioned by the Worshipful Company of Butchers for the 400th anniversary of their Royal Warrant, premiered in St Paul's Cathedral, 2005) O Waly Waly arr. for baritone, SATB, piano & orchestra Pacis et Caritas for SATB unaccompanied (written for the Choir of the Earth) Peace Beyond Thought for SATB unaccompanied Perfect Love for SATB unaccompanied Prayer to a Guardian Angel for SSAATTBarB & cello (commissioned by Voces8) Prayer to a Guardian Angel for soprano, harp & strings Psalm 91 for SATB unaccompanied & SATB quartet (commissioned by the Lancaster Chorale, Ohio) Quanta Qualia for soprano, SATB or SSAA, piano or strings or orchestra Quanta Qualia for SSAATTBarB or TTBarBarBB & alto saxophone (commissioned by Voces8) Quem Pastores for SATB & harp Reflexionem for soprano, SATB, piano or strings Reflexionem for SSAATTBarB & cello (commissioned by Voces8) Remember for soprano or SATB & piano Revelation for SATB unaccompanied (written for The Elora Singers, Canada) Prologue: This Prophecy Coming with the Clouds From the Throne Worthy is the Lamb A Great and Wondrous Sign Fallen is Babylon the Great Hallelujah (The Marriage of the Lamb) I Saw a New Heaven Epilogue: The Alpha and the Omega Silent Night arr. for SATB & organ with optional brass & percussion Song of Songs for SATB or SSAA, harp & strings Love’s Promise Rhapsody Many Waters Faint With Love Love’s Echo Song of Songs Songs of Innocence for SATB & piano (written for The Same Stream Choir, based on the poetry of William Blake) Introduction The Shepherd The Echoing Green The Lamb The Little Boy Lost and Found A Cradle Song The Divine Image A Dream On Another’s Sorrow