Reflections on the 10th Hay Music Festival, September 2025, from Mick Peake, Chair of Hay Music
Well, what a weekend for those fortunate enough to have been at 10th Hay Music Festival this year! Given current worldwide events, its theme of ‘Exiles and Émigrés’ could hardly have been more timely and apposite. Against the background of Caroline Burraway’s harrowing art installation ‘Ungrievable lives’ in Hay Castle (which will remain on display until the end of September) highlighting the plight of child refugees, virtually everything presented over that weekend threw light on people and peoples, many composers and musicians included, who had, for one reason or another, been forced to leave their homeland. I saw people in the audience at every event moved to tears, tears mostly of sadness over such things as the films ‘The Kite Runner’ and ‘Kesulat’ or of joy at the musical power of the works such as the world-class performances of Schubert’s ‘Death and the Maiden’ quartet or Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet by the Fitzwilliam Quartet and the pianist Sarah Nicolls. The Iranian Kurdish musician and refugee, Zanyar Hesami, thrilled and moved audiences in his two performances, one on the Saz (a middle-eastern instrument of the lute family) and the Daf (an Iranian framed drum) while the McQuaid Quartet made the Great Hall of Hay Castle swing to the sounds of the great black saxophone players who, as a result of racism, had to leave the USA to make a living in the inter-war period. A wonderful young ensemble from Sinfonia Cymru presented a programme of folk-inspired music reflecting the charm and dangers of the sea; we heard the amazing young soprano Alysia Hanshaw, accompanied by pianist Jay Carroll, singing an eclectic and moving range of songs, all written by composers who had left their countries of birth. And to top it all we witnessed a personally informed conversation, chaired by Peter Florence, on the subject of forced migration, with the musicologist Stephen Johnson, the artist Caroline Burraway, composer Charlotte Bray and the Iranian refugee, Zanyar Hesami. Altogether a very powerful and hugely enjoyable weekend. If you weren’t there, all I can say is: “You missed a treat”!
We are fortunate to have a video recording of the discussion entitled ‘Exiles and Émigrés’, chaired by Peter Florence with artist Caroline Burraway, creator of the art installation ’Ungrievable Lives’, Charlotte Bray, composer of the string quartet ’Ungrievable Lives’, performed by the Fitzwilliam Quartet in the Festival, musicologist and broadcaster Stephen Johnson and Kurdish musician Zanyr Hesami who began the session with a performance on the daf, an Iranian hand held drum and national instrument of the Kurdish people. If you missed this performance and discussion, or would like to see it again, you can access it HERE.
Artist Caroline Burraway, creator of the installation ‘Ungrievable Lives’, talking to Peter Florence at The Castle
The McQuaid Quartet, exploring the arrival of the saxophone in the UK, at The Castle