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.
In today’s episode, Fiona shares her journey finding music, and the role of the piano in shaping her life. When Fiona was diagnosed with Tourette’s, she realized that it’s often our weaknesses that give us strength. Having Tourette’s taught her about life, and it made her stronger. The piano, and music, became her best friend and comfort. Fiona believes that music is a gift from another world, from ancestors of the past communicating to inspire and give us hope. As Fiona shares, music is a universal language that connects us, speaks to us equally, and yet it’s received by all differently. Fiona’s wish is to open more hearts to the power of music.
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.
“It was a great revelation to learn that it’s possible to touch an audience with music. No one noticed the tics when I played the piano, I hid them in the music and it translated as a musical dance. I had a sense of belonging when I played, and I knew I wanted music in my life more than anything else. I believe that a gift only has value if it’s shared, and I wanted music in my life in a way that I could share it with other people.”
Tune in on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7bZHrtjAzbksbLWNaak1NM
Tune in on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stories-of-inspiring-joy/id1510488632
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
Stories of Inspiring Joy is a production of Seek The Joy Media and created by Sydney Weiss. To learn more and submit your story, click here.