Fiona Joy Hawkins, is an Australian vocalist and pianist. Her collaborations have included five albums produced by

Will Ackerman William Ackerman (born November 16, 1949) is an American guitarist and record producer who founded Windham Hill Records. Career Early years Ackerman was born in Germany. His adoptive father was a professor of English at Stanford University. H ...

. Her influences include

George Winston George Otis Winston III (February 11, 1949 – June 4, 2023) was an American pianist performing contemporary instrumental music. Best known for his solo piano recordings, Winston released his first album in 1972, and came to prominence with his ...

Michael Nyman Michael Laurence Nyman, Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, libretto, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film soundtrack, scores (many written during his lengthy ...

, Chopin, and

Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonie ...

. ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' said of her in 2007 that she "ranks among the world's best in her genre, but struggles for recognition in her home country" of Australia, largely due to the lack of recognition given to the genre by Australian music critics until she won the 2006 ZMR award. Fiona Joy is the first Australian to place in the top ten on the ZMR chart and the first to win a ZMR award.

Early life

Fiona Joy was born in

Cessnock, New South Wales Cessnock () is a city in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia, about by road west of Newcastle, New South Wales, Newcastle. It is the administrative centre of the City of Cessnock Local government in Australia, LGA and was named afte ...

, Australia, and raised in both

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

and Tamworth. She began to study the piano at a young age, composing short pieces before she was a teenager. She trained at the Tamworth Conservatorium of Music under tutor Ursula Bakker and showed early signs of musical talent. Her teachers included Es Clarke, Ursula Bakker, and Maureen Newell.

Musical career

Her first album, ''Portrait of a Waterfall'', charted at No. 1 on the New Age Reporter (NAR) World Charts in 2005. Her classical release, ''Angel Above My Piano'', earned the NAR Lifestyle Music Award for Best Piano Album of the Year for 2006. She has been a finalist multiple times in both the Musicoz Awards in the

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and classical categories, and the Los Angeles Music Awards in the

New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

Ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...

Instrumental category. In 2008, Fiona Joy was the 2008 MusicOz winner for Best Jazz or Classical Artist. In 2009 she won Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, and Best Instrumental Album by Zone Music Reporter for her album ''Blue Dream''. The album was also a finalist for an

ARIA Music Award The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austra ...

. Her fifth album, ''600 Years in a Moment'' (2013), draws on

Celtic music Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celts (modern), Celtic people of Northwestern Europe (the modern Celtic nations). It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and ...

from her family traditions as well as vocal and instrumental performances intended to represent Mongolia, Hungary, China, Africa, Tibet, Ireland, the Middle East, and Native America. She played a Stuart & Sons piano and was recorded in

, Australia, in Vermont at Ackerman's Imaginary Road Studios, Los Angeles, New York, Bremen and

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

, Maine, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Featured musicians include cellist

Eugene Friesen Eugene Friesen (born 1952) is an American cellist and composer. Early life Friesen was born in 1952 to Russian Mennonite parents. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Music. Career Friesen has been a member of the Paul Winter Consort since ...

, bassist

Tony Levin Anthony Frederick Levin (born June 6, 1946) is an American musician and composer specializing in electric bass guitars, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (19 ...

, drummer Jeff Haynes,

Charlie Bisharat Charlie Bisharat (born March 15, 1963) is an American violinist known as a member of Shadowfax and for his work in film and with other new age jazz artists. Life and career He was born in Inglewood, California, in 1963 to Palestinian parents w ...

, violinist and vocalist Rebecca Daniel, and guitarists Will Ackerman and Todd Boston. The album was awarded the Best Instrumental Album – Piano at the 2013 ZMR Music Awards. In 2013 Fiona Joy was a finalist in the Best Live Performance, Best New Age Album, and Best New Age Song categories at the Independent Music Awards. She was also finalist in the Best Live Performance, Best New Age Album, and Best New Age Song categories at the Independent Music Awards that same year. In 2014, Fiona Joy and Will Ackerman produced the album ''By a Wire'' by Jennifer Defrayne with Fiona Joy assisting on piano and lyrics. In 2014 her song "Grace" appeared on the compilation album ''Winds of Samsara'', which reached No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' New Age albums chart. and won the

Grammy Award for Best New Age Album The Grammy Award for Best New Age, Ambient or Chant Album is presented to recording artists for quality albums in the new-age music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. H ...

. In 2015, Zhou Tiebing, of the Xiangyang Government Network, labelled Hawkins the "piano princess" after her performance in Shenyang. Her 2016 album ''Signature Synchronicity'' received the Independent Music Award for Best New Age Song for "Song Calling Earth" and the award for Best New Age Album. It also received the ZMR Award for Best Piano Album. In May 2017, Fiona Joy's second solo piano album, ''Into The Mist,'' was released on Blue Coast Records. In October, 2017, Fiona Joy joined with Lawrence Blatt, Jeff Oster, and

and created the group New Age group “ FLOW" (from the first letters of Fiona Joy', Blatt's, Ackerman's first name and Oster's last name). FLOW debuted with a performance at Carnegie Hall's Weill Hall on October 6, 2017. In early 2018, Fiona Joy released ''Story of Ghosts'' as her third audiophile release with Blue Coast Records. It was nominated for Zone Music Reporter's Best Piano Album - Solo. In 2019, Fiona Joy teamed with Rebecca Daniel and released the album ''The Lightness of Dark'' featuring the Kanimbla Quartet. She also appeared with FLOW on the album ''Promise''. She has also been interviewed regarding trends in the use of high-end

pianos A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an action mechanism where hammers strike strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a chromatic scale in equal tempe ...

and the potential changes new instruments make to a musician's compositions. Fiona Joy is a painter whose works have been exhibited at the Butterflies Gallery in Pokolbin as well as internationally.

Discography

Albums

* ''Music for Massage'' (Compilation) (2010) *''Music for Weddings'' (Compilation) (2010) *''Music for Funerals'' (Compilation) (2010) * ''Christmas Joy'' (2011) * ''Signature – Solo'' (2015) (as "Fiona Joy") * ''Signature – Synchronicity'' (2016) (as "Fiona Joy") * ''Into The Mist'' (2017) (as "Fiona Joy") * ''Flow (2017)'' (as "Fiona Joy") * ''Story of Ghosts'' (2018) (as "Fiona Joy") *''The Lightness of Dark'' (2019) (as "Fiona Joy Hawkins") with Rebecca Daniel featuring the Kanimbla Quartet *''Moving Through Worlds'' (2020) *''Heavenly Voices'' (2021) (as "Fiona Joy Hawkins") and Rebecca Daniel for Blue Coast Records

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions o ...

. They commenced in 1987. ! , - ,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, ''Blue Dream'' , Best World Music Album , , ARIA Award previous winners. , -

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkins, Fiona Joy 1964 births Living people Australian women composers Composers for piano New-age pianists Blue Coast Records artists 21st-century Australian pianists 21st-century women composers 21st-century Australian women pianists People from the Hunter Region