Tom Poster

piano

Thursday 14th January 2027

7.30pm Morpeth Methodist Church

Programme (on occasion, the artist may make minor changes to the published programme)

Robert Schumann Kinderszenen Op. 15

Schubert Four Impromptus D.899

'Of Night and Dreams' Sequence of Nocturnes by Maria Szymanowska, Grieg, Debussy, Poulenc, Clara Schumann & Chopin interspersed with Tom's arrangements of Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter and other gems from the Great American Songbook

Listen to music from this programme on Spotify HERE

Tom Poster is renowned for his wide ranging and eclectic repertoire. He performs concertos with leading orchestras and solo recitals around the world as well as being the co-founder and artistic director of the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective. Tom reports that he loves to create interesting and enjoyable programmes and that he is particularly fond of the music of Gershwin, Jerome Kern and Cole Porter.

Tom's programme for Morpeth will include a solidly classical first half of Schumann's playful Kinderszenen and a set of four Schubert much-loved and familiar impromptus. The second half will juxtapose Tom's love for jazz stemming from his youth entertaining in hotel bars with a sequence of romantic nocturnes.

''a marvel, (who) can play anything in any style'

The Herald

More about Tom from his website:

'Tom Poster is a musician whose skills and passions extend well beyond the conventional role of the concert pianist. He has been described as “a marvel, [who] can play anything in any style” (The Herald), “mercurially brilliant” (The Strad), and as having “a beautiful tone that you can sink into like a pile of cushions” (BBC Music).

Tom has performed over forty concertos from Mozart to Ligeti with Aurora Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, China National Symphony, Hallé, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic and Scottish Chamber

Orchestra, collaborating with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Nicholas Collon, Robin Ticciati and Yan Pascal Tortelier, or sometimes directing from the piano. He has premiered solo, chamber and concertante works by many leading composers, made multiple appearances at the BBC Proms, and his exceptional versatility has put him in great demand at festivals internationally.

Tom is co-founder and artistic director of Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, appointed Associate Ensemble at Wigmore Hall in 2020. With a flexible line-up featuring many of today’s most inspirational musicians, and an ardent commitment to diversity through its creative programming, Kaleidoscope is particularly renowned for its championing of unjustly neglected gems alongside deservedly celebrated classics. Kaleidoscope broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3 and has enjoyed residencies at

the Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Lammermuir and Ischia festivals. Its albums for Chandos Records have been shortlisted for BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone awards, while recent performance highlights have included concerts with Hilary Hahn, a debut at the BBC Proms, and two extensive tours of the USA. In 2024, Kaleidoscope was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Ensemble Award.

During the 2020 lockdown, his #UriPosteJukeBox series with Elena Urioste - featuring Tom as pianist, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, writer, backing dancer and snowman - brought a staggeringly eclectic selection of music to audiences across the world through 88 daily online performances, for which the duo won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Inspiration Award. Their subsequent recording, The Jukebox Album, received glowing reviews and a BBC Music Magazine Award.

Tom has recorded albums for BIS, Champs Hill, Chandos, Decca, NMC, Orchid and Warner Classics, appearing as soloist and in collaboration with Elena Urioste, Alison Balsom, Guy Johnston, the Aronowitz Ensemble, Aurora Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia

and London Symphony Orchestra. He regularly features as soloist on film soundtracks, including the Oscar-nominated score for The Theory of Everything. He studied with Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and at King’s College, Cambridge. He won First Prize at the Scottish International Piano Competition 2007 and the keyboard section of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition in 2000.

Tom’s compositions and arrangements have been commissioned, performed and recorded by Alison Balsom, Matthew Rose, Yo-Yo Ma, Kathryn Stott and Roderick Williams. His chamber opera for puppets, The Depraved Appetite of Tarrare the Freak, received an acclaimed three-week run at Wilton’s Music Hall in 2017. He is a lifelong fan of animals with unusual noses.'