Fiona began playing piano at age eight, but she was in her thirties before she could really get into her music as a career; she is making up for lost time by composing and producing some of the most exciting music available today, as presented in her most recent work, Blue Dream, and the rest of the Little Hartley Music catalogue. Blue Dream is a 68 minute suite of music written by Australian composer and pianist Fiona Joy Hawkins, produced by Grammy winner Will Ackerman (Founder of Windham Hill Records) and recorded at Imaginary Road Studios on a Steinway. Blue Dream is also available as an SA-CD hybrid/multichannel.

 

"I had my family at a young age, and we struggled with my son’s Asperger Syndrome. Thankfully, I always had the piano to keep me going, as well as my painting. When I would listen to George Winston, I felt so inspired; I couldn’t help but hear a little voice inside me saying…compose…you can do it!"

 

Fiona persevered with composing and recording, releasing her first album Portrait of a Waterfall in 2005. It went to #1 on the New Age Radio (NAR) Charts, made the top five in the MusicOz Awards for the classical genre, and was a finalist for Best Piano Album at the 2005 NAR Lifestyle Music Awards. Encouraged by her bit of success, Fiona followed with Angel Above My Piano, which won Best Piano Album at the NAR Lifestyle Music Awards in 2006. Her third album, ICE: Piano Slightly Chilled also rose to #1 on New Age Reporter's Top 100 New Age/Ambient/World Radio/Internet Airwaves Chart, and also won a Best Dance Dub/Club NAR Award in 2008. She also won Australia’s 2008 MusicOz award for Best Jazz or Classical Artist. Blue Dream debuted at #1 on the NAR charts, setting a new record for highest debut on that chart.

 

Fiona, whose music crosses genres from classical to world fusion, admits she found embarking on a musical career later in life more than a bit daunting. "It was lonely, doing this from rural Australia. Most people never returned my phone calls or letters. Sometimes, I’d email or post comments on websites like Luka Bloom’s…I never expected that he was actually reading them." He was, and eventually, he asked Fiona if he could perform on her album.

 

Initially, Fiona was classically trained as a pianist. As a child, Fiona first began playing and writing music, citing Ravel's Bolero as a very early influence. "I played this over and over and deconstructed every part, I absolutely loved it," said Fiona. Her childhood was also filled with the theatrical sound of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals. "My father played Jesus in the Tamworth Musical Society production of Jesus Christ Superstar, so Andrew Lloyd Webber's music was always in our home."

 

Accordingly, Fiona’s music is both thematic and melodic. With a keen eye on film, she has always been interested in creating music that evokes images and tells a story, so it may come as no surprise that she’s a prolific painter who has been exhibiting since 1997. She incorporates original manuscripts of her music on the canvas, to create bold colorful mixed media abstracts that enable one to see and feel her music.

 

"The idea of synchronicity has always intrigued me; colors, ideas and emotions all have corresponding sounds," said Fiona. "I believe in the power of music as a source of inspiration and a way of reaching people, and, it seems I can transfer a musical quality through my art to the canvas."

 

In addition to four albums – Portrait of a Waterfall, Angel Above My Piano, ICE: Slightly Chilled and Blue Dream -- Fiona has released three albums specifically designed for the burgeoning iTunes market: Music for Funerals, Music For Weddings and Music For Sex.

 

She explains, "I started to notice that specific tracks kept getting downloaded, in particular Ciney's Theme (Wedding March), and I realized that people are sometimes after purposeful music, whether it be for a wedding or a funeral. These three download-only albums are doing extremely well; in fact, Ciney's Theme is now my #1 downloaded track on iTunes."

 

With the recent release of Blue Dream as both CD and SA-CD, Fiona is busy enjoying new fans, added performance commitments and the interest of international music critics. Best of all, she’s doing what she loves most, diving into composing her next album, tentatively titled "600 Years in a Moment."