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JOY HAWLEY

Cello

A woman playing the cello

Joy is very grateful to her local music service for the opportunity to begin cello lessons.

She is an award winning alumna of both the Purcell School and the Guildhall, having studied with Sue Lowe, Anna Shuttleworth, Joan Dickson, Melissa Phelps and Timothy Hugh. Joy played with the Pacific Music Festival Orchestral conducted by Leonard Bernstein before beginning a diverse career embracing London’s leading symphony and chamber orchestras, recording for pop artists, complementing this with a love of chamber music instilled at an early age by playing in a string quartet coached by the violin teacher Eta Cohen.

As soloist and chamber musician she has performed at festivals across the country, at St Martins in the Fields, the Wallace Collection and the Purcell Room. Chamber music has been a feature of her work with Ballet Rambert and at the National Theatre where she has had music written for her, including by Jonathan Dove, Gary Yearshon and Richard Rodney Bennett, as well as performing solo works by Shostakovich, Schnittke and Janáček.

Joy has performed in over 50 theatre productions, giving 2 European premieres of works by Sondheim. She has had her own shows at the National Theatre, Regents Park Open Air Theatre, RSC, Donmar Warehouse, Menier Chocolate Factory and several in the West End.