John Hawkins, born in 1949, studied composition with Malcolm Williamson and Elisabeth Lutyens. He has written many chamber, vocal and orchestral pieces as well as successful music for children. He Lives in London and works for the book publishers Thames & Hudson.

A major trilogy on the subject of the sea began with an extraordinary commission for a Sea Symphony which involved a four-week voyage to Australia on a container ship with a piano. The BBC broadcast one of three performances by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and this was followed later by a broadcast by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Voices from the Sea, a song cycle for tenor and string orchestra, sets words by working merchant seamen. It has now been issued on CD by Meridian Records. The final part of the trilogy (yet to be performed) is The Seafarer for tenor, choir, and chamber orchestra in which a translation of the powerful Anglo Saxon poem The Seafarer is dramatically counterpointed with a modern, imagined letter from a seaman on a foundering cargo ship.

The one-act opera Echoes was commisioned by and performed as part of Covent Garden’s 'Garden Venture' scheme.

Chamber music includes Urizen, a virtuoso piece for viola and piano (first published by Boosey & Hawkes, now available from Comus Edition) which has been performed many times worldwide. A recording by its dedicatee Paul Silverthorne is available on the Black Box Music CD 'Invocations' (BBM1058). Nardo Poy and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra gave the first performances of the version with string orchestra. A new version with chamber orchestra was made in 2007 for a performance by Yuko Inoue in Japan.

The largest of John Hawkins's choral pieces is This World for choir and two trumpets. The libretto, inspired by working with the poet and Blake scholar Kathleen Raine on her book The Human Face of God, combines words from the Bible (the Book of Job) and William Blake. It was commissioned by the choir Cryes of London and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 by the BBC Singers.
Works for choir include 'For these...' – in which words by Edward Thomas are counterpointed with the Te Deum – and Virtue, Denial, The Call and Doomsday – settings of texts by the 17th-century poet George Herbert.

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