#modernclassical

🌍✨ Some APRIL PERFORMANCES of Miguel del Aguila’s music

Friends, April takes my music to some beautiful corners of the world — across the US, Europe, and all the way to Australia. A special highlight is the Noord Netherlands Orchestra performing Broken Rondo

4/4/2026 – 2:00 pm

MIAMI FLUTE SUITE Alyssa Mercedes Mena, flute Knight Center, Frost School of Music University of Miami — Miami, FL

4/10/2026 – 7:00 pm

MIAMI FLUTE SUITE (flute & piano) Alexa Still, flute • Susan DeWitt Smith, piano Irvin Levin Performance Hall Greater Portland Flute Society Fair — Portland, OR

4/12/2026 – 7:00 pm

TORRENTIAL RAINDANCE (flute & piano) Robert Cart, flute • Matthew Mainster, piano Friends of Music Series — Camden, ME

4/14/2026 – 7:30 pm

SUBMERGED (harp & accordion) Ines Ringe, accordion • Kathrin Montero Küpper, harp Seniorenresidenz Augustinum Dortmund Festsaal Dortmund, Germany

4/23/2026 – 8:00 pm

4/24/2026 – 8:15 pm

BROKEN RONDO (English horn & orchestra) Nadine Bults, English horn Noord Netherlands Orchestra Eivind Gullberg Jensen, conductor Stadskanaal & Sneek, Netherlands

4/24/2026 – 7:00 pm

SUBMERGED (flute, viola & harp) Nashville Chamber Music Society Scarritt Bennett’s Wightman Chapel Nashville, TN

4/25/2026 – 7:00 pm

CUTTING LIMES (solo violin) Irina Muresanu, violin Concerts Accords de Printemps L’église St Pierre — Lasalle, France

4/26/2026 – 11:00 am

Danielle Hani presents: Recent Works

Danielle Hani expands her musical identity through expressive piano work and detailed orchestral writing, linking performance and interpretation with a clear creative voice.

Danielle Hani is a musician who has built a career shaped by curiosity, discipline, and a steady devotion to musical storytelling. Her work spans piano performance, orchestration, music editing, and collaboration with composers across film and concert settings. These roles intersect in a way that reflects her larger artistic identity, and a very rich background, which led her to pursue many different avenues in the music world. Television productions of this scale require contributions from musicians who can maintain consistency across large volumes of material. Hani’s involvement across the full soundtrack, including detailed music editing and participation in cue shaping, indicates recognition from established composers and production teams who rely on her technical precision. Her ability to balance performance duties with behind-the-scenes musical responsibilities shows versatility that is valued within the industry.

Two recent works are a perfect example of what to expect. Felicia’s Lullaby from the television series We Were the Lucky Ones and her orchestration for Ahava Bat 20, reveal how her sensibilities guide both intimate and large-scale forms.

Felicia’s Lullaby is the piece that most directly highlights Hani's voice at the piano, showcasing her proficiency, and mastery of touch dynamics on the instrument; an aspect that's often overlooked, but highly cherished by composers and producers alike because of its role in portraying emotion and depth through the instrument. Although the composition is by Jon Ehrlich, Hani's performance becomes the focal point of the recording because of the aforementioned qualities. Her playing is clear and subdued when it needs to be that way, with phrases that seem to settle into each harmony rather than move through it quickly. She favors smooth transitions and flexible dynamics, creating a sense of calm that fits the story behind the series as well as the composition itself. Each note is spot on and it lands with purpose, yet nothing feels rigid. She shapes the melody with a gentle touch that suggests memory and reflection. The piano part sits at the center, while light ambient layers and subtle orchestral elements appear gradually in the background. These textures fill the space without overpowering the central theme, and Hani's approach makes the blend feel natural.

The performance is only part of her contribution to the soundtrack. Hani worked closely with Ehrlich throughout the production, participating in score reviews, music preparation, and detailed music editing across the project, so she definitely contributed to the project on a much broader basis. This broader involvement shows how her musical perspective extends beyond the keyboard. She understands how individual cues need to fit within a full narrative arc, and her attention to detail helps shape the emotional flow of the series. Her work supports the composer’s vision while emphasizing clarity in pacing and tone.

In a concert setting, particularly at Recanati Hall with the Netanya Kibbutz Orchestra conducted by Maestro Yaron Gottfried, the orchestration must account for acoustic space, ensemble balance, and interpretive nuance. Hani’s score does this through measured dynamics and precise instrumental layering. Passages that could easily feel oversized instead remain structurally clean. Transitions between instrumental groups display an understanding of temporal pacing that mirrors the expressive rises and falls of the original song. This reflects a broader trend in modern orchestration, where arrangers aim to preserve narrative elements while drawing on orchestral resources to deepen the emotional field. Hani’s work fits within this contemporary landscape while offering a distinct voice shaped by her interest in lyrical and cinematic writing.

Hani crafted a full orchestral score that responds to the original song by Jacques Brel and the well-known Hebrew version by Yossi Banai. Her arrangement treats the melody with respect while offering new color and scale. She avoids overwhelming the vocal line and instead creates space around it by carefully carving out a fitting instrumental soundscape around it. Strings often carry extended harmonies that widen the emotional frame, and the woodwinds add light commentary that enriches the overall shape.

Hani’s orchestration for Ahava Bat 20 demonstrates a thoughtful application of orchestral technique to an existing song with strong cultural resonance. Jacques Brel’s original composition and Yossi Banai’s well-known Hebrew version both present clear, narrative-driven melodic lines. The challenge of expanding such material lies in balancing respect for the source with the expressive capacity of a full orchestra. Hani’s arrangement resolves this tension by distributing harmonic weight across the string section while employing woodwinds to provide sectional contrast. Her treatment avoids unnecessary density, prioritizing clarity around the vocal line delivered by Dor Kaminka. She does not rewrite the emotional meaning of the song with her work, but she actually set out to expand it through carefully planning its structure. Moments of restraint highlight the intimacy of the text, while broader passages give the orchestra room to respond. The collaboration with Gottfried and the ensemble adds another layer to the interpretation, since her score invites performers to inhabit the material rather than follow it mechanically.

Taken together, these projects reflect measurable professional impact. They showcase a musician engaged by established institutions, trusted in high-stakes collaborative environments, and acknowledged for contributions that meaningfully shape the final artistic product.

Beyond film and concert work, Hani’s contributions to interactive media demonstrate her ability to translate musical and narrative instincts into game environments. In recent projects, her work has included music composition, character voice integration, and sound design. These elements function together to support the spatial identity of each scene, creating a cohesive environment that responds to player movement and story progression.

Find out more and connect:

www.daniellehani.com

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