Fiona Joy Hawkins

A classically trained pianist, composer, and vocalist from Australia, Fiona Joy Hawkins has earned recognition chiefly for her contemporary instrumental piano compositions that fuse elegance with intensity. Drawing on an array of stylistic sources, among them the Celtic traditions of her ancestry, her discography encompasses the orchestrated, nature-inspired debut Portrait of a Waterfall (2005); the ARIA Award-nominated Blue Dream (2008), produced by Will Ackerman and incorporating occasional vocals; the Celtic-tinged 600 Years in a Moment (2013); and the solo-piano recording Into the Mist (2017). She is additionally recognized as a participant in the new age supergroup FLOW. In 2023 she issued To the Wind…, her third joint project with violinist Rebecca Daniel that likewise included vocals from both artists.

Hawkins was born in Cessnock, New South Wales, where she began piano instruction in childhood and had started writing original pieces by her teenage years. Following secondary school she refined her technique through classical piano studies at Tamworth Conservatorium of Music. Inspired by the lyrical, atmospheric recordings of musicians such as George Winston and Michael Nyman as well as the classical works of Frédéric Chopin and Felix Mendelssohn, she made her recording debut in 2005 with Portrait of a Waterfall, which expanded her romantic piano themes through the addition of strings. The first of several releases on Little Hartley Music, the album reached the summit of new age radio charts. Subsequent well-received projects included 2006’s Angel Above My Piano and 2007’s Ice: Piano Slightly Chilled, the latter pairing her piano with synths and programmed rhythms. Her 2008 release Blue Dream emerged as a collaborative production helmed by Will Ackerman, with contributions from Irish singer/songwriter Luka Bloom, Ugandan flutist Samite Mulondo, and pianist Philip Aaberg. Nominated for an ARIA Music Award in the Best World Music Album category, Blue Dream secured Zone Music Reporter Awards for Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, and Best Instrumental Album. The holiday collection Christmas Joy appeared in late 2011, after which early 2012’s Live at the Q documented a Blue Dream Ensemble performance of that material.

Later in 2012 Sensual Journeys arrived as another lightly orchestrated effort, while mid-2013’s 600 Years in a Moment revisited Celtic motifs with guitar and production input from Ackerman. The solo piano album Signature: Solo surfaced in early 2015; its tracks were later reinterpreted on the orchestrated Signature: Synchronicity (2016) and the collaborative Signature: Deluxe Edition (2019). During the same period Hawkins issued two solo piano albums for Blue Coast Music—Into the Mist (2017) and Story of Ghosts (2018)—and co-founded FLOW, a quartet alongside Will Ackerman, guitarist Lawrence Blatt, and flügelhorn player Jeff Oster. The group’s self-titled debut appeared in 2017, followed by Promise on LMB Music in 2019. In the course of touring the project, FLOW performed at Carnegie Hall in September 2019.

Hawkins rejoined the Little Hartley Music roster with The Lightness of Dark, a duo recording with violinist/vocalist Rebecca Daniel that featured the Kanimbla Quartet. Produced by Ackerman and Tom Eaton, Moving Through Worlds was released on Blue Coast in July 2020. The Lightness of Dark REIMAGINED followed in March 2021, the same month that saw the issuance of Heavenly Voices, another Daniel collaboration. Amid tours throughout Australia and internationally, the duo returned to Blue Coast in April 2023 with To the Wind…. That September Hawkins issued a solo piano edition of Blue Dream (blue dream - Solo Piano).