Cindy Paulos and Fiona Joy talk Story. Fiona Joy was born in Cessnock, New South Wales and raised in both Newcastle and Tamworth.[1] She began to study the piano at a young age, composing short pieces before she was a teenager. She trained at the Tamworth Conservatorium of Music under tutor Ursula Bakker and showed early signs of musical talent.[2] Her teachers included Es Clarke, Ursula Bakker, and Maureen Newell.[3]
Her collaborations have included a five albums produced by Grammy Winning Producer Will Ackerman (founder Windham Hill Records). Her influences include George Winston, Michael Nyman, Chopin, and Mendelssohn.
The Sydney Morning Herald said of her in 2007 that she "ranks among the world's best in her genre, but struggles for recognition in her home country" of Australia, largely due to the lack of recognition given to the genre by Australian music critics until she won the 2006 ZMR award. Fiona Joy is the first Australian to place in the top ten on the ZMR chart and the first to win a ZMR award.
Her first album, Portrait of a Waterfall, charted at No. 1 on the New Age Reporter (NAR) World Charts in 2005.Her classical release, Angel Above My Piano, earned the NAR Lifestyle Music Award for Best Piano Album of the Year for 2006.
She has been a finalist multiple times in both the Musicoz Awards in the jazz and classical categories, and the Los Angeles Music Awards in the New Age/Ambient Instrumental category.
