Hazel Askew is a folk singer, multi-instrumentalist and composer from London, playing melodeon, concertina and harp.
She is a respected performer on the folk scene, most notably with BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominated trio Lady Maisery and traditional duo The Askew Sisters. Hazel is also a member of the seasonal collaborations Awake Arise and Wakefire, and won Best Album at the 2017 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards as part of 10 piece supergroup Songs of Separation.
On the early music scene she has performed with renowned groups Joglaresa, The Dufay Collective and The Artisans, and was a soloist in Orlando Gough’s Deadhead and Emily Hall’s secular requiem ‘Rest’. Hazel has worked as a composer and musical director on productions such as on Darren Ellis Dance’s shows ‘The Long Walk Home’ and ‘Running World’, Ben Crystal’s Shakespeare Ensembles productions of Macbeth, Twelfth Night and Henry V, Shakespeare in Styria’s King Lear as well as More Film’s short films ‘International Men’s Day’ and the trilogy ‘Tales’. She worked as a performer in Sky/HBO/Punchdrunk’s Bafta nominated 12 hour live broadcast ‘The Third Day’ and was associate musical director on Fisherman’s Friends The Musical.
Hazel is a committed folk educator and often leads projects for Folk England’s learning programmes as well as workshops and courses for organisations including BBC Proms, Barbican Creative Learning, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Folkworks, Streetwise Opera, Aldeburgh Young Musicians, Saffron Hall, Dartington Summer School and various festivals around the country.
