There’s ambition, and then there’s assembling a globe-spanning collection of film composers, the London Symphony Orchestra in Abbey Road Studios, for a good cause. With HOPE: 12 Prayers for Cello and Orchestra, cellist and composer Andreas Graf has done exactly that, gathering his fellow composers for a charity album to support Save The Children. Ahead of its May 1, 2026, release, I caught up with Graf to unpack the moment that led to the creation of the album, the logistics of bringing it to life, and what the future holds for film composers in the face of AI.
JG: Why did now feel like the right moment for the HOPE project? What pushed you to make it?
Andreas Graf: Basically, it was inspired by various conflicts in the world, but the original idea started when the Ukraine war broke out. Here in Europe, we were quite affected by the news. And from the beginning, I did not want it to be a political album because I thought as musicians we have the ability to create something non-verbal, which lets the music speak for itself. And the bigger idea was to create an album which can serve as a symbol for the unity of humanity.
But now, as the album is coming out a few years later, it’s exactly in the right time as we have a big conflict happening in the Middle East. And it is a charity album. It’s supposed to help children affected by war. And in war, there are always victims on both sides, so this project is not supposed to take a stance in one way or the other. We want it to be a non-political album in a way that it just can help in the world and without judgment of the politicians. The bigger idea is to help the world and to contribute to a better world where we can reduce the suffering on any side involved in a conflict.
There’s always suffering. The fact that all the artists came together and were willing to do this has to do with the world situation and let’s say the bumpy road on which we have been during the past few years. But now, especially with the current world situation, I think the album is coming out at the exact right moment.
JG: How were you able to balance creating the beauty of the music with the reality of the conflict in Ukraine while you were making the album?
Andreas Graf: I think it’s in the darkest moments where we find inspiration to create something very beautiful. When we go through challenging times or troubles in our hearts, sometimes that’s a very strong trigger for creative people to create something or to come up with new ideas or to get inspired. We’ve tried not to make the album dark because things are already dark enough.
The situation is threatening enough. In the end, we are trying to pull the attention away from the conflict to an alternative possibility, maybe have a bit of a bird’s-eye perspective. I was very much inspired now by the Artemis, you know, the astronauts going around the Moon. When they saw the Earth from far away, there was a very beautiful statement from one of the astronauts saying that he realized how much we depend on each other on this planet and how thin the atmosphere is. I think the purpose of this album is to widen our scope a bit and get out of the narrow perspectives we are often caught in when we are in a conflict. I think that’s a bit of the symbolism behind this album.
JG: Were you inspired by any other charity albums or songs?
Andreas Graf: Not a specific album. I just know that there have been big charity concerts where different artists come together, which I always thought was a very beautiful thing. In London, there was a famous open-air concert in the ’90s where many artists came together to raise awareness for HIV. The Prince’s Trust.
Then I have always loved songs like “We Are the World” and “We Are the Champions,” where you have different famous singers coming together and contributing their part to a greater artistic achievement. Sometimes there needs to be a strong artist who takes the lead or who does something by himself, but there is also a great potential in a collaboration where everybody gives their best. In the end, you have a beautiful result, which is based on pillars by each individual artist. In film, it’s extremely important that you have a fantastic film team that works on the set and works well together. I’ve been on film sets in Los Angeles, for example, where there have been problems between people, and it was psychologically difficult.
And then I have seen other situations where people worked so nicely together that everything was in flow. That left a lot of room for the actors to try things. They were in a good mood, and therefore, the result was also automatically better. You didn’t have pressure, you didn’t have judgment, you didn’t have conflict.
So I was hoping to find 12 composers who would be willing to do this. And indeed, it turned out to be wonderful. I was very lucky to gather people who had never met each other before and who did not see each other as competition, but rather saw themselves as a team, which I thought was very beautiful. Especially in the competitive world of film composing. Film composers go through a lot of problems. Maybe we can talk about it a bit later. If you’re interested.
JG: I would love to hear more about that, yeah. What are some of the issues that you’re finding right now with film composing?
Andreas Graf: More and more, film composers are competing against artificial intelligence nowadays. The quality of music produced by artificial intelligence has become astounding. And for a large part of where film music is used, for example in documentaries, this music can be used right out of the box, and replaces film composers totally.
So the market where a composer is actually still in demand and where he sits together with the director and creates something genuinely becomes smaller and smaller for film composers. And that’s my impression from talking to film composers who tell me they are really scared, and they don’t know if their job will still exist in five years.
JG: Do you find that AI compositions are lacking the heart or human quality that composers like yourself can bring to music?
Andreas Graf: That’s my big hope. I still hope that the human quality, the soul of a piece, cannot be replaced so easily. And as much as in production music, where you often have those platforms where you can download from. You have a huge selection of production music. These are tracks which are maybe not so tightly related to a character or to a specific movie, but it’s just more music that can be used in a documentary to create an atmosphere.
For that, composers are really in competition when there’s so much material which is already out there. And the filmmaker can license it for $50 and use it right away. He imports it into his editing program. Whereas working with a film composer requires dedication and a bigger budget when you record music especially for that movie. It’s a completely different market field.
JG: Can you see a solution on the horizon? Or do you think AI is just set to take over the field?
Andreas Graf: I still hope that, at least for the bigger movie productions, directors who want to create something special will not shy away from spending more and really make a commitment to the music, knowing that music is a huge part of every film. And if you have a scene which stays in people’s memories, that can be a huge add-on to a film, and they will keep on working with human beings to achieve that.
Of course, it’s necessary that we keep up to date with technology and that we use the possibilities we have. And maybe we will be able to record symphony orchestras with AI libraries that have become so good that you won’t hear any difference anymore, and we will be able to save a lot of money. This will also create jobs, because you need to maintain those libraries, you need to produce them, and so on. But it is a disruptive force.
We are at a very interesting point, not only in film music, but in all jobs. Like lawyers, for example, they are also discussing AI-driven platforms where you can get consultation about legal advice and everything. So this is not only in film music. But I realized when I talked to several film composers that this is a major concern for some of them.
JG: Where can people find out more about HOPE?
Andreas Graf: So we have an official website, which is www.hopealbum.com. It will also be shortly updated with a link where you can purchase the album. The label is called Claves Records. Although we know that streaming is now the big thing and not many people have a CD player anymore, it’s highly appreciated if people still buy a physical copy because it will help a lot and contribute a lot to Save The Children.
Buying a physical copy can actually help more than streaming. Streaming is fantastic. But as we all know in the music industry, the streaming shares for the artists and in our case for Save the Children, are very small per stream because the majority goes to the streaming platform.
Learn more about the Hope Album here.
Follow Andreas Graf: Instagram