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Born in Montréal in 1944, John Hawkins studied with renowned pianist and pedagogue Lubka Kolessa at the Conservatoire de musique et d’art dramatique. At McGill University, on a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, he was a composition student of Istvan Anhalt. In the mid-1960's he enrolled in summer courses at Tanglewood and later attended the 1969 conducting seminar of Pierre Boulez in Basel, Switzerland. As a pianist he took part in performances of over 70 new works with the ensembles of Montréal’s Société de musique contemporaine du Québec and Toronto’s New Music Concerts, of which he was a founding member. In 1977-78 Hawkins held a Canada Council Senior Arts Grant enabling him to work for one year in New York City. He was the 1983 recipient of the (Governor General) Jules Léger Prize for new chamber music.
In 1970 Prof. Hawkins joined the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto, where he teaches composition, orchestration and the analysis and performance of twentieth-century music. He continues to perform as a pianist and conductor. Since 1994 he has organized and participated in a series of interdisciplinary Music and Poetry lecture/concerts featuring twentieth-century vocal literature. Over 50 works by 24 different composers have been presented. Singers have included outstanding students of the Faculty of Music Performance and Opera Divisions, as well as recent graduates.
Hawkins’ compositions have been performed in the United States, Europe, Australia and in most Canadian centres. He has written music for various groups and organizations such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Nexus, York Winds, New Music Concerts, Société de musique contemporaine (Montréal), Chamber Concerts Canada and the Banff Centre. More recently he has composed several vocal pieces especially for the Music and Poetry series. His catalogue includes over 25 works for various media, as well as arrangements. Hawkins' latest work is a song cycle entitled A Sunbeam's Architecture, on texts by various poets, scored for baritone, string quartet and percussion. |