Learn more about the impetus behind my music.
A reflection
This modern world we all live in is pretty darn crazy. We are inundated with new ideas, new personalities, new visions of society, and new technology on a seemingly daily basis. How to make music that impacts the heart and soul amid all that noise? I try to meet people where they are through composing with honest simplicity and beauty while stretching their comfort zone through a complexity that stems from my interest in fluid dynamics, ecosystems, quantum physics, and spiritual reflection. At all times catharsis is a priority in my music: I pledged to myself to never explore darkness without the balance of light. The muse is real for me, and I wholly hand over the wheel to subconscious and intuitive processes.
Photographer: Bruno Dariva
Bio
William Hawkins (b. 1997) is a composer, conductor, vocalist, violist, and synth improviser with a BA in Music from Brown University currently pursuing a Masters in Music at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.
Hawkins has had works performed by chamber groups including the American Modern Ensemble, TAK ensemble, Mivos Quartet, the Momenta Quartet, the Neave Trio, the Walden School Players, and violinist Nigel Armstrong. His work has also been presented at the Brevard Music Center, Perelman Performing Arts Center Sidewalk Sessions, Mostly Modern Festival, Atlantic Music Festival, Alba Music Festival, and the Walden Creative Musician’s Retreat. Hawkins’ song cycle Looking Up won third place in the American Prize professional division for vocal chamber music, and his orchestral piece Catalyst Nimbus was a semi-finalist in the 2022 American Composers Orchestra Earshot competition. Currently, Hawkins studies acoustic composition with Don Freund and computer music composition John Gibson at the Jacobs School of Music. Previously, he studied with Gabriel Jenks and Chi Wang. At Brown University, Hawkins studied composition with Eric Nathan and Wang Lu. He has also studied with Dalit Warshaw and Rodney Lister.
Beyond composition, Hawkins conducts premiers of his peers, sings in the NOTUS choir at the Jacobs School of Music, and volunteers as a violist in outreach concerts for Bloomington-based Reimagining Opera for Kids. He played violin in the University of Wisconsin Madison Symphony Orchestra 2021 season, Boston University Time’s Arrow new music ensemble fall 2019 season and the Mostly Modern Festival Orchestra of summer 2018.