Tom Poster

Tom Poster’s diverse and rapidly developing career combines the complementary roles of concerto soloist, solo recitalist and chamber musician across an extensive repertoire in a range of major international venues. He has been described as “an unparalleled sound-magician” (General-Anzeiger), “a pianist of distinction” (The Times), and as possessing “great authority and astounding virtuosity” (Est Républicain). Since his London concerto debut at the age of 13, Tom has appeared in a wide-ranging concerto repertoire of over 25 major works, with orchestras and conductors including the BBC Philharmonic/Yan Pascal Tortelier, BBC Scottish Symphony/James Loughran, China National Symphony/En Shao, Southbank Sinfonia/Vladimir Ashkenazy, St Petersburg State Capella Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Swan and the European Union Chamber Orchestra. He has given solo recitals at the Barbican Hall and St John’s Smith Square; in Bonn, Hamburg, Lugano, Paris and the Channel Islands; and at festivals in Brighton, Chester, Edinburgh, King’s Lynn, the Two Moors, Windsor and Spoleto (the last by personal invitation of the late Gian Carlo Menotti).

In 2007, Tom won First Prize in the Scottish International Piano Competition, where he also received the prize for the best performance of the specially commissioned work by Judith Weir. He was a major prizewinner at the Dudley and Epinal International Piano Competitions in 2003, and winner of the keyboard sections of the Royal Over-Seas League and BBC Young Musician of the Year Competitions in 2000. He has broadcast extensively on BBC Radio 3, BBC 2, Classic FM and the Sky Performance Channel, and has recorded works by Thomas Adès for EMI. As pianist of the Aronowitz Ensemble, he is a member of the BBC’s New Generation Artists scheme, appearing at the Wigmore and Bridgewater Halls, the Aldeburgh, Cheltenham and City of London Festivals and the BBC Proms. He has also collaborated with Alison Balsom, Natalie Clein, Nicholas Daniel, James Gilchrist, Guy Johnston, Tasmin Little, Willard White and the Endellion, Bochmann, Brodsky and Medici Quartets.

Tom is well-known for his readiness to face a challenge: he has on several occasions been asked to step in at the last moment for indisposed artists, recently rushing across London to give a rapturously received performance of the Grieg Concerto at only three hours’ notice. A dedicated communicator, he has given masterclasses at a number of festivals, was Artistic Director of Sophie’s Silver Lining Fund Music Festival in Chacombe, has appeared as Reciter in Walton’s Façade at Musicfest Aberystwyth, and is also a successful composer. In 2005 he was a guest at the reception at Buckingham Palace given by the Queen in celebration of the British music industry, and in 2007 he gave a performance to the Emperor and Empress of Japan.

Born in 1981, Tom studied with Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he held a Postgraduate Fellowship, and at King’s College, Cambridge, where he gained a Double First in music.