Ollie Hawker (he/him) is a composer and community music practitioner based in Glasgow. He seeks to write music that is one or more of the following: sad, funny and/or beautiful. His recent work combines a sonic arts training in texture and timbre with a love of stillness and fragmented melody, and he strives for a clarity that is both fragile and touching, likely to get blown away by a strong gust of wind. His music has been described as sounding ‘like a magical musical box… gorgeous’ (Moonbuilding Weekly), ‘going between the seriousness of contemporary music… and a playfulness’ (Prxludes) and ‘simply hypnotic, very moreish’ (Time Past and Time Passing).

Ollie holds a Masters degree in composition from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he studied with Linda Buckley and Alistair MacDonald, and was awarded the 2020 Kimie Composition Prize. Recent works have been performed in the UK by Standard Issue, Ipsa Collective, Xenia Pestova Bennett, Marie Schreer (Riot Ensemble), Psappha and The Willow Trio, as well as international performances by Bergamot Quartet (USA), Megumi Masaki (Canada), Extended Music Collective (Belgium) and Inland Ocean (USA/Belgium/Canada). He has released two albums on the label Why Keith Dropped the S; It’s So Easy Pt. 3: It’s Always This Easy (2022), and Behind closed eyes (2024).

Ollie also plays the singing saw, and has been called a ‘virtuoso’ on the instrument (Vox Carnyx). He is part of the audiovisual trio Instruction Manual, whose album The Instruction Manual was released on Miúin (2024). He works as a community music practitioner for several Scottish charities, running music workshops for children and adults with additional support needs. Ollie is a member of the international artist collective Inland Ocean, and is Chamber Music Scotland’s 2026 Embedded Musician.

Photo by Paulius Sliaupa