Biography

Steven Hawson (BA, MA, MBA) was born in Baltimore to a Scottish father, a Danish mother, and into a world surrounded by music. He began playing the piano at the age of four while sitting on his mother’s knee.  He would later study piano and music theory under avant-garde composer and conductor Prof. Paul Gothard, a mentee of Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, and with jazz pianist / prolific arranger Len Orcino.

At age 12 he received his first guitar and soon began to focus on that instrument.  He was a lead guitarist in a rock band in high school.  He then studied for several years under classical guitarist James Kalal, a student of Andrés Segovia. After meeting Charlie Byrd and Laurendo Almeida in 1985, Steven also began to incorporate jazz and Latin pieces into his repertoire.

Steven was an active performer and teacher of classical guitar during the 1980’s, particularly in Florida and in Ohio, but took a long hiatus from performing to raise a family and focus on other forms of employment that actually paid the bills.  He is also the author of two books about learning Spanish.

In 1990, Steven moved to SW New Mexico and built a small adobe house in the middle of the Chihuahuan desert -- making every adobe brick himself and utilizing recycled materials.  The structure was later classified as a work of outdoor sculpture by the Smithsonian.  Remarkably, it hasn't fallen down yet. 

Steven performs on a Pimentel guitar made in Albuquerque in 1978 and on a Japanese-made Takamine which belonged to the five-time Grammy-award-winning guitarist Laurindo Almeida.

Today,  Steven and his family live in Albuquerque.