Hannah Thompson - Smith
Hannah was born in Devon in 1981. She moved to Birmingham in 2000 and gained a 2:1 in violin performance at the Birmingham Conservatoire. Here she studied with soloist Philippe Graffin, Jaqueline Ross and Baroque violinist Nicolette Moonen. After graduating in 2004, she moved to Manchester to complete a PGCE and postgraduate studies at the RNCM in 2006 and studied with soloist Leland Chen. After this, she moved to Sheffield and began her busy playing career whilst continuing to develop her skills with Robin Ireland, former player from the Lindsay Quartet.Hannah now enjoys a very varied career of performing and teaching. As a freelance violinist she plays locally and wider afield for several orchestras and ensembles as well as performing in quartets, trios and as soloist. Hannah regularly plays with the string trio ‘Simply strings’ in the North for weddings, events, concerts and Candlelight concerts. Hannah is also an experienced leader and leads the Hallam Sinfonia, Glossop Choral Society, Chesterfield Symphony, and Sheffield Sinfonietta.
As well as leading orchestras, Hannah enjoys performing solo. Most recent works include Bach violin concertos in E and A minor, Bach Double violin concerto, Bach Brandenburg concertos Nos 2,4 and 5, Four Seasons, Beethoven Romance in F, Lark Ascending, Svenson Romance and Scheherazade. Hannah has also performed in the Doncaster and Rotherham lunchtime recital series and in the St Andrew’s festival and in the Worksop College recital series. Works include Elgar violin Sonata, Brahms violin sonatas and Schubert violin Sonatinas. She has also performed the Mozart violin and viola duo with Robin Ireland in the Classical Sheffield series.
As well as the traditional classical repertoire, Hannah performs a diverse range of repertoire. In 2019, she appeared on television with Aled Jones on a Christmas Special and has performed with singer song writer Julian Jones, with the 80’s band Atomic in the 02 in Sheffield and for the Ibiza club tunes tours. She has also performed on stage in Liverpool, Sheffield City Hall, Birmingham Symphony Hall and Nottingham concert hall with international touring tribute acts for Whitney Houston, George Micheal, Beatles and Queen.
