Fiona Joy Hawkins - Composer, Pianist, and Vocalist
Fiona Joy Hawkins
Fiona Joy Hawkins is a mainstream Composer/Pianist/Vocalist with an international following, whom she greets weekly with pandemic-inspired, live-streamed concerts. The event’s growing success might be attributable to a combination of her musical talent, a love for her fans, and her disarming Aussie humour. Her latest album is Moving Through Worlds, produced by Will Ackerman (founder, Windham Hill Records) and Tom Eaton, for her own label, Little Hartley Music. A prolific composer, she has always been interested in creating music that evokes images, emotions and tells stories.
Fiona’s balletic performance style draws from a childhood spent learning classical piano, dance, and painting. She is best known for her romantic, melodic songs and lush arrangements, and with each new album, she bares a bit more of her soul, and her emotive music that defies genres, crossing into Classical, Contemporary Piano, and New Age instrumentals. One can hear the inspiration of Mendelssohn and Chopin, and yet her music is often likened to modern composers such as Ludovico Einaudi, Michael Nyman, Liz Story, and George Winston. She enjoys and regularly tours China and the USA and is also a member of the Contemporary instrumental group FLOW (Fiona Joy, Lawrence Blatt, Jeff Oster, Will Ackerman).
The world has rewarded the music with over 100 awards and nominations. Her song ‘Grace’ was on a GRAMMY® winning album in 2014. In 2016, she won two categories of the Independent Music Awards at Lincoln Centre in New York; since 2008’s Blue Dream, several albums have won Best Piano Album by global radio chart, The ZMR Awards. In Australia, she was an ARIA finalist (2008), but the nomination closest to her heart came alongside Pete Seeger for Best LIVE Performance Album in the Independent Music Awards. With FLOW, she won several IMA’s, two ZMR Awards, and two Peace Song Awards.
Fiona is proud to work with Australian handmade Stuart and Sons Pianos. With Blue Coast Records, a partner of Sony Music for hi-resolution releases, she recorded several analog albums, and is considered a female pioneer in the upscale audiophile world. Fiona is interested in new musical concepts and recording techniques for the audiophile world and has appeared on panels at audiophile conferences. Blue Coast owner/producer Cookie Marenco says, "Fiona’s melodic solo piano and masterful performances are the perfect music to debut the kind of clarity double DSD audio brings to the home listener.”
When she is not touring around the world at venues like NYC’s Carnegie Hall/Weill Hall, the New Orleans Jazz Museum, Sydney Opera House (MusicOz Awards), and China’s most stunning concert halls, she escapes to her home in a small village of 1027 people in NSW Australia. Her most memorable events include playing live on Echoes/PRI Radio, accompanying Deepak Chopra in NYC, giving a concert for the Mason and Hamlin Piano Festival in LA, Sydney Women’s International Jazz Festival, and playing with FLOW at the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles.
I’m so excited for you to connect with Fiona, check out her work, and follow along as she continues to create music that evokes images, emotions, and tells powerful stories.
I'd love it if you'd introduce yourself, what you do, and what you're working on.
My name is Fiona Joy Hawkins and I write music, play piano and sing. I’m also an Aussie and I love sharing my music by performing and touring. My passions (other than music) are wildlife, cooking and walking. I’m family oriented and feel that those connections along with my hobbies are important for the balance I need to work in the music industry.
How did you get started?
It was a life-long dream since the age of 8 to be a composer and concert pianist playing my own work. It took me till the age of 38 to take the first step towards making that a reality. Fate decided I needed more life experience and the reality is that it made me a much better story-teller. Ultimately a composer is a musical story-teller so a little more depth and maturity makes a better musician.
I didn’t know where to start so a friend who had been a famous musician in his day told me to book 4 hours with a recording studio and just front up for a chat. That was the first move. The fear of being on the stage was overcome at roughly the same time when my Mother told me to ‘get over myself’ and that if I didn’t do something with my music I would waste my whole life. I was annoyed when I first heard that but in fact, she was right, people want to hear the music and they don’t care what your stage fears are, you just need to get on with it, climb the mountain and get those phobias into perspective.
What inspired the work that you're doing?
My recent album is called Moving Through Worlds because its inspired by so many aspects of my life and the world around me. The music speaks about my childhood, the journey to my present career, the Australian Bushfires, COVID and it also celebrates the maturity I have gained along the way as a writer with some inspired improvisations delivered on the day of recording.
What is your biggest passion? Do you feel like you're living your passion and purpose?
Music is my passion and YES I’m living it and giving it the best shot I have. I believe that it doesn’t matter how good the music is, if you don’t put it and yourself out there, it will never find an audience. There are always hurdles but the journey is the destination and it is reflected in personal growth.
What is your joy blueprint? What lights you up, brings you joy, and makes you feel the most alive?
I LOVE writing music. The discovery of a new combination of notes, or a rhythm or a story translated as music sets my soul on fire and allows me total escapism into another world. It’s a place of solace, it’s a safe place and its one I love to visit. If I could figure out how to just live in that world and avoid the day-to-day grind of paperwork and behind the scenes work, I could bottle it and sell it for thousands.
How do you live intentionally? Are there tools/resources/practices that you rely on to help you stay mindful and grounded?
I play barefoot. It helps me feel connected to both the piano and the planet. I have a husband who is the rock in my life and has a stabilizing and grounded nature. I try to keep things in balance but as a story-teller, the value is in the drama of the highs and lows. It’s the strength and weakness of an artist’s creative nature and one I have almost come to accept.
What would your younger self think about what you're doing now?
That’s the first time I have contemplated this…. I think younger Fiona would be surprised at how far I came and that the negatives that she was so afraid of are in perspective and no longer problems. You could call them obstacles but in reality they were all character building. Younger Fiona didn’t have a clear sense of the future because there were so many things in the way.
Do you have a go-to mantra or affirmation?
I’m more of a spiritual person than a religious person, so just before I go on-stage I focus and repeat this mantra “Dear God, you gave me this gift, please help me share it with the audience as best I can.” I never go on stage without doing that.
What is your biggest dream?
My biggest dream is to be in the Sydney Opera house in the front row (as audience) and at the end of the song the house erupts into applause when the orchestra finishes playing. They are playing one of my songs.
To learn more about Fiona and her work visit her website fionajoy.com and flowthegroup.com and on Facebook @fionajoyhawkinsmusic Instagram @fionajoymusic & Twitter @fionajoymusic and her videos on YouTube here and you can find live streams of her concerts here
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