Tom Hicks

Hailed as an artist of ‘magnificent pianism’ with an ‘engaging personality,’ Guernsey-born pianist Tom Hicks has gained first prize in competitions including the Wales International Piano Competition, the Croydon Piano Concerto Competition and the EPTA UK Piano Competition and also performed in the finals of such prestigious competitions as the New York International and Ferruccio Busoni International Competitions. Alongside competition successes, Tom has won awards such as the Richards’ Prize for Piano and Musicianship and the Dennis Midwood Keyboard Prize from Chetham’s School of Music; the Faculty of Humanities Outstanding Academic Achievement Award, the Keith Elcombe Prize for Best Overall Performance and three Proctor-Gregg Performance Prizes from the University of Manchester; and the Gold Medal Award and Peter Frankl Piano Prize from the Royal Northern College of Music.

After lessons in Guernsey with Mervyn Grand, Tom gained a place at Chetham’s School of Music in 2009. He studied with Murray McLachlan with whom he continued on the prestigious joint course at The Royal Northern College of Music and Manchester University. Since 2015 he has been based in America, studying with Boris Berman at Yale University’s School of Music and as a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate with James Giles at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. He also plays regularly to musicians including Joseph Banowetz, Michel Beroff, Andrea Bonatta, Philippe Cassard, Peter Donohoe, Christopher Elton, Peter Frankl, Stephen Hough, Leslie Howard, Eugen Indjic, Yoheved Kaplinsky, John Lill, Jon Nakamatsu, Steven Osborne, Pascal Rogé, Martin Roscoe, Boris Slutsky, Kathryn Stott, Vladimir Tropp and Simon Trpcezici.

Tom has an expansive repertoire and has appeared as recitalist in venues such as The Wigmore Hall, St John’s Smith Square and St Martin-in-the-Fields in London, The Pump Rooms in Bath, The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester and in many other venues throughout Europe and the United States. Tom has appeared as concerto soloist on more than 30 occasions. This includes two complete cycles of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerti, most recently with the Stockport Symphony Orchestra. In 2019, he releases a recording of John Ireland and Tchaikovsky, supported by the John Ireland Charitable Trust, and gives the launch recital as artistic director of the Fanny Davies International Piano Series in Guernsey.

Alongside his solo career, Tom is a skilled accompanist and chamber musician. He has enjoyed coaching from Boris Berman, Hung-Kuan Chen, Mark Steinberg, Leonard Elschenbroich and Ralph Kirshbaum. Highlights include performances of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring with piano duo partner Eylam Keshet in Sprague Hall (New Haven) and the quintets of Schumann and Dvorak with the Coull Quartet at St James Concert Hall (Guernsey). Tom also enjoys conducting and in 2012 co-founded Guernsey-based modern music ensemble Terra Nova. His interest in contemporary music also led to several collaborations with British composer Camden Reeves, including premieres of Reeves’ Tangle-Beat Blues in 2014 and Nine Preludes in 2016.

Tom is grateful for financial assistance from the BWCI Foundation.

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