Born in London in 1984, she read music at the University of Exeter before completing a master’s degree in composition at the Royal College of Music and a doctorate at Columbia University in the City of New York.

In 2022, she was the recipient of the Hindemith Prize for outstanding contemporary composers, and was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award in the Small Chamber category. In 2023, Hannah won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Large Ensemble Composition for shouting forever into the receiver, and Even sweetness can scratch the throat was nominated for Best Chamber Ensemble Composition. Tuxedo: DustBowl #3 was shortlisted for the Best Community and Participation Ivor Novello Award in 2024.

Known for her attentive arrangements and immersive world-building, Kendall’s music looks beyond the boundaries of composition. Her work bridges gaps between different musical cultures, both honouring and questioning the contemporary tradition while telling new stories through it. Contrasting fine detail with limitless abandon, she has become renowned both as a composer and a storyteller, confronting our collective history with narratively-driven pieces centred on bold mission statements.

Her chamber opera The Knife of Dawn (2016) received critical acclaim for its involving and claustrophobic representation of the incarceration of Guyanese political activist Martin Carter. A new production was presented on the Royal Opera House’s main stage in2020, a third will be staged at Dutch National Opera in 2026.

She has written works for BBC Proms, London Symphony Orchestra, Hanover State Opera, Hallé Orchestra, Lincoln Center, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Scottish Ensemble, State Opera in Stuttgart, and the Wigmore Hall, and has worked with ensembles including Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, The Hallé, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, International Contemporary Ensemble, Klangforum Wien, and London Sinfonietta. Festival appearances include BBC Proms, Berliner Festspiele, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Lucerne Festival, and Tanglewood Music Festival.

Her music is published by Ricordi (Berlin).

Selected works: Nativity for choir (2006), Never Seek to Tell Thy Love for vocal trio (2007), Vera for small ensemble (2008), Fundamental for choir and brass quintet (2010), Incident for soprano and piano (2011), Middlegame for piano (2012), On the Chequer’d Field Array’d for piano (2013), Regina Caeli for choir (2014), Not Hands Like Mine for vocal trio (2015), The Knife of Dawn, chamber opera (2016), The Spark Catchers for orchestra (2017), Processional for piano (2018), Network Bed for small ensemble (2018), A Winged Spirit for violin and piano(2018), Verdala for large ensemble (2018), Disillusioned Dreamer for orchestra (2018), Glances / I Don’t Belong Here for string quartet (2019), Tan-Tan for small ensemble (2020), Rosalind for soprano, baritone and piano (2020), Nexus for orchestra (2020), Tuxedo: Vasco de Gama for orchestra (2020), Tuxedo: Hot Summer No Water for music box, voice and police whistle (2020), Where is the chariot of fire? for large ensemble(2020), Tuxedo: Plaid x Plaid for large ensemble (2021), Dimensions of a Creole Continuum, motion theatre (2021), Tuxedo: Crown; Sun Kingfor prepared violin and five (2021), Tuxedo: (Copper); Ivory Mask for oboe and piano (2021), Tuxedo: Diving Bell 2 for prepared harp (2021),Hand-en-Veldt, installation for 100 wind-up music boxes (2021), Tuxedo: Dust Bowl #1 for choir (2021), yes, flash bright lightning in mysouthern sky! for two oboe reeds and three music boxes (2022), Tuxedo: Between Carnival and Lent for small ensemble (2022), this is but anoration of loss for vocal ensemble (2022), Tuxedo: Dust Bowl #2 for choir (2022), shouting forever into the receiver for large ensemble (2022),How ruin nested inside each thimbled throat / & made it sing for string quartet (2022), Tuxedo: Dust Bowl #3, installation for massed ensemble of harmonicas and optional SATB voices (2022), Even sweetness can scratch the throat for small ensemble (2023), …I may turn to salt for string orchestra (2023), O flower of fire for orchestra (2023), when flesh is pressed against the dark for small ensemble (2024), Gilt for saxophone quartet (2024), He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing for orchestra (2024), And At Pains To Temper The Light for string orchestra (2024), You carve & carve until a coin of light appears (Profit; New Hope; Good Success), installation for prepared string ensemble (2024), the need / to be shattered & rebuilt for orchestra (2025), The End of carrying All for string quartet (2025).