I met Hayley Westenra in December 2003, along with her
charismatic manager at that time Steve Abbott, and hit it off with both
immediately. I became her music librarian but the job description became far
broader than for previous artists as this role was to be more consistently hands
on with arranging, transcribing and adapting than the orchestral librarian role
I was accustomed to. Within a week I was adapting and reducing her orchestral
materials for the PURE Tour for its small instrumental ensemble. This was to be
the start of a long fruitful creative association, including orchestrating her
New Zealand PBS TV special, arranging and adapting countless song charts for
live concerts and tours with orchestras and bands at home and abroad, and
writing all the arrangements for both of her DECCA Japanese Song CDs, the first
of which hit the top of the Japanese pop charts ahead of Coldplay and Madonna.
This association has led to many spin-off arranging and studio based projects
with manager/producer/impresario Steve Abbott and his old friend Über- producer
Ian Tilley, both of whom we are proud to have as Studio-Orchestrations
associates.
Click here to visit the official Hayley
Westenra website
Reviews - Hayley Sings Japanese Songs
“The song's themselves are beautifully
arranged and everything about this CD - the arrangements, the lyrics and
Hayley's voice - is beautiful...utterly captivating and absorbing, I defy you
not to be moved by this album. “ (Amazon reviewer)
“This is undoubtedly the most beautiful album I have ever bought...here she has
surpassed even herself. This album is full of beautiful, melodious songs, with
tremendous arrangements backing Hayley's voice. All the songs are superb,...are
of very high quality. The production is superb, and the song arrangements
excellent.” (CD Japan Reviewers)
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