Iona Chadwick: A Life Beyond the Notes
From classical orchestras and folk traditions to circus performance, Norwegian influences and deeply personal songwriting, Iona Chadwick is an artist whose creative journey refuses to be confined to a single discipline.
There is often a difference between the person an audience sees on stage and the individual who exists beyond the spotlight. For musician and performer Iona Chadwick, that distinction is particularly striking.
On stage, she can appear confident, outgoing and completely at ease. Away from it, she describes a rather different experience.
“The me that is on stage is very confident and out there and that’s not necessarily how I feel in my personal life,” she explains.
It is a revealing observation from an artist whose life has been shaped by performance in its many forms. A classically trained violinist, folk musician, singer, actor and circus performer, Iona has spent years moving between creative worlds that might seem unrelated, yet have gradually become part of the same artistic identity.
Her story is not simply about musical accomplishment. It is also about learning to express emotions, finding confidence through performance and discovering how creativity can help make sense of life’s more difficult experiences.
A Life Shaped by Music
Music has been a constant presence throughout Iona’s life.
Her classical training included two years at Wells Cathedral School, where she attended as a special provision musician and performed with its symphony orchestra. She subsequently spent a year at Bristol Cathedral Choir School, participating in orchestral and chamber music ensembles as well as the gospel choir.
Outside formal education, her musical experiences were equally varied. She played with South West Camerata, performed at concerts and festivals, and attended Folkworld workshops led by musicians including Joe Broughton and Paloma Trigas.
Her musical education also extended into tango, folk traditions and eventually rock and folk metal.
Rather than seeing these experiences as separate chapters, Iona considers them interconnected.
“Every gig, every musician that I’ve played with, every teacher that I’ve had has changed me in some way to make the musician I am today.”
It is an attitude that helps explain her resistance to conventional musical boundaries. Classical precision, folk expression and contemporary performance have all contributed to her musical vocabulary.
Although violin remains her principal instrument alongside her voice, her interests extend well beyond traditional musicianship.
Beyond the Stage: The Physical Art of Performance
One of the more unusual aspects of Iona’s background is her involvement in circus, physical theatre and stunt training.
She has attended circus schools in three countries and studied at the International Stunt Academy in Norway. These experiences have influenced not only her physical abilities but also her understanding of what makes a compelling performance.
For Iona, an audience responds to more than technical ability. The willingness to commit completely to a performance is equally important.
“The more you throw yourself into it, the better it’ll look,” she says.
She recognises that holding back through self-consciousness can create distance between performer and audience. Fully embracing the moment, even at the risk of looking slightly ridiculous, can make the experience more engaging.
Her background in acting and physical theatre has also helped her develop the confident stage persona that contrasts with how she sometimes feels privately.
This relationship between physical expression and emotional confidence is one of the most intriguing aspects of her artistic identity.
The violin demands precision and control. Circus and stunt performance require strength, body awareness and the willingness to take calculated risks. Acting introduces another dimension: the ability to inhabit a character and communicate feelings through performance.
Together, these disciplines have helped shape an artist who understands that performing is not simply about reproducing music accurately. It is about communicating something to the people watching.
Out of the Dark: Finding Strength Through Songwriting
While much of Iona’s musical life has involved performing with orchestras and bands, her solo work represents something more intimate.
Her EP Out of the Dark brings together songs written at different stages of her life, each reflecting particular experiences and emotions.
For some time, these compositions had remained unfinished. Whenever she considered writing new material, she felt the need to complete the songs she had already started.
Eventually, she decided that releasing them as an EP would allow her to close that chapter and move forward creatively.
The resulting collection is deliberately arranged to suggest an emotional progression.
The opening track, My Demon, addresses her personal struggles around food. The River of Life, remarkably, was the first song she ever wrote, composed at the age of thirteen during a school canoe trip.
The EP continues through Your Narrative and Moonshadows, eventually arriving at Better Off Now, a more upbeat pop-rock expression of self-worth and moving forward.
The songs differ considerably in style, something Iona and her producer Neil Berry have embraced rather than attempted to disguise.
But beneath the musical variety lies a common emotional direction: confronting difficult experiences, recognising personal value and emerging with greater strength.
Songwriting also serves a deeply personal purpose for Iona.
“Songwriting can be a way for me to process things and to kind of, yeah, figure out how I’m really feeling.”
It is perhaps this honesty that gives her solo work its distinctive character.
Rather than beginning with the intention of creating a particular genre, she often works from fragments of melody, lyrics or an emotional impulse that gradually develops into a song.
The process is not always straightforward. She acknowledges that turning small musical ideas into complete compositions can be challenging.
Yet those unfinished fragments remain part of an ongoing creative exploration.
The Importance of Creative Trust
A significant figure in the development of Out of the Dark is producer and musician Neil Berry.
The two met through Aventail, a folk-metal band in which they have performed together, and their collaboration has since extended into Iona’s solo recordings.
Their working relationship is built on friendship and creative trust.
Iona describes feeling comfortable enough around Neil to experiment without worrying about making mistakes or embarrassing herself.
That freedom has proved particularly important when developing songs that began as little more than lyrics and melody.
For Moonshadows, for example, the two began with a guide vocal before developing the chords and gradually building the arrangement around it.
Other songs arrived with more complete musical foundations.
Their collaboration illustrates how music production can become a process of discovery rather than simply recording a finished composition.
It is also a partnership Iona hopes to continue, with further creative projects already being considered.
Songs for Steve: A Different Musical Story
While Out of the Dark reflects Iona’s personal songwriting, her album Songs for Steve reveals another side of her musical life.
The project began unexpectedly in 2024 when she was invited to perform at a birthday celebration for a folk music enthusiast named Steve.
The performance was well received, and some months later the person who had arranged it contacted Iona to ask whether recordings or CDs were available to purchase.
At the time, they weren’t.
Recognising that she already knew the material and had access to recording equipment, Iona decided to record the music herself at home.
Neil Berry subsequently mixed the recordings.
The project later developed into a more professionally recorded version, completed over two days at Neil’s home and released in 2026.
Unlike Out of the Dark, the album consists largely of traditional material and covers, alongside some original fiddle tunes.
Iona sees a clear difference between these two forms of creativity.
Her fiddle compositions tend to be more upbeat and playful, while her original songs often explore more personal and emotionally complex territory.
Together, the two releases demonstrate the breadth of her musical identity: one rooted in folk traditions and instrumental expression, the other increasingly focused on telling her own stories.
Norway: A Place That Remains in the Music
Norway holds a special place in Iona’s life.
Her family’s connection with the country stretches back to her father’s time living there during the 1970s. When Iona was young, her family also spent time living near Oslo.
That early experience left a lasting impression.
“Part of my heart has always been in Norway,” she says.
The connection is not merely sentimental. It has also found its way into her music.
Some of her original fiddle tunes carry influences that she associates with Norwegian musical traditions, even when they are not intended to reproduce traditional Norwegian folk music.
Her experiences performing in Norway have also provided memorable moments.
She recalls opening a local rock festival with a band, knowing that friends would be watching and that the audience would be substantial.
It was one of the occasions when she felt particularly nervous before going on stage, but the experience ultimately proved exhilarating.
Such moments reveal that confidence is not necessarily the absence of nervousness. Sometimes it is the ability to perform despite it.
The Person Behind the Performance
Perhaps the most revealing part of our conversation concerns Iona’s understanding of confidence and strength.
People have often described her as outgoing, self-assured and comfortable in social situations. Yet she explains that this outward impression does not always reflect how she feels internally.
The contrast has followed her since childhood.
It is tempting to imagine performers as naturally confident people, but Iona’s experience suggests something more complicated.
Performance can provide an opportunity to step outside everyday uncertainty, to inhabit a more expressive version of oneself and to communicate emotions that might otherwise remain difficult to articulate.
Her understanding of strength is similarly nuanced.
“I think strength is resilience and adaptability and being able to be vulnerable and to listen to other people and take other points of view on board and still kind of hold true to yourself.”
It is a definition that moves beyond physical capability or outward confidence.
For someone with experience in demanding physical disciplines, the emphasis on vulnerability is especially meaningful.
It also reflects the emotional direction of Out of the Dark, where strength emerges not through denying difficult experiences but through recognising and working through them.
The Next Chapter
Despite her extensive performance background, Iona speaks about her creative future with a sense that much remains to be explored.
One ambition is to develop a deeper connection with her emotional and creative instincts and eventually release a full album of original songs that more completely represents the music she imagines creating.
She is also enthusiastic about the future of The Troll Hunters, the band she performs with alongside her brother. With a new bassist and drummer joining the group, she hopes to develop their live performances and reach larger audiences.
Alongside her solo projects and her work with The Troll Hunters, Iona is also the lead singer of Phat Planet, a band drawing inspiration from ska, funk and reggae. This adds yet another dimension to her already diverse musical journey, allowing her to explore a more rhythm-driven, energetic style of performance. It also reflects her enthusiasm for crossing musical boundaries and embracing different genres, from classical and traditional folk to contemporary, groove-led sounds.
Another ambition is musical theatre.
Having participated in musical productions during her teenage years, she would love to return to a discipline that combines acting, music and singing.
In many ways, it seems a natural destination for someone whose interests have always crossed the boundaries between different forms of performance.
Yet there is no suggestion that Iona intends to abandon the variety that has characterised her journey.
Her artistic identity has developed through curiosity, experimentation and a willingness to explore unfamiliar creative territory.
For Iona, music remains a form of communication that reaches beyond words.
“Music is a universal language. You don’t have to speak the same spoken language as someone, but you can hear the emotion that they’re going through when they’re playing.”
Perhaps that is what ultimately connects the many different worlds she inhabits.
Whether performing with a violin, singing a deeply personal song, playing in a rock band or exploring the physical language of theatre, the underlying purpose remains much the same: to communicate something genuine.
And as she continues to explore the relationship between the confident performer and the person behind the performance, Iona Chadwick’s most personal creative work may still lie ahead.
Interview with: Tony Zohari
Editorial: digitPro Magazine
Interview date: 17 October 2026
Discover more about Iona Chadwick and her music through her Instagram profile.
