'One of the UK's most vibrant voices' (International Piano), Hesketh has received numerous national and international commissions and has worked with an array of important conductors and soloists including Sir Simon Rattle, Vasily Petrenko, Clare Hammond, Susanna Mälkki, Martyn Brabbins, Oliver Knussen, John Wilson, Christoph-Mathias Mueller, Clark Rundell, Janet Sung, Ludovic Morlot and Pascal Rophé. He has been represented at festivals from London (Proms) to the USA (Tanglewood/Bowdoin) to China (Beijing Modern Music Festival). His Prom commission, Graven Image, elicited the observation that he is "a composer who both has something to say and the means to say it” (Tempo Magazine).
Hesketh’s fascination with entropy, mutation and existentialism coexists with a notable interest in formal design based on the influence of ‘pathways’ (labyrinths and mazes) and the paradoxical notion of clarity through density. His work has been recorded by NMC, BIS, Paladino Music, Somm Records, Prima Facie, and Chandos labels. A disc of Hesketh's piano music (Clare Hammond) was released by BIS in 2016 to great acclaim; In Ictu Oculi (Paladino Music) was judged one of the Top 100 disc releases in 2018 (The Times) and described as ‘An exhilarating and beautiful synergy of form and expression" (BBC Music Magazine).