Tom Poster

Pianist Tom Poster, born in 1981, displayed prodigious ability early by performing at Kettle’s Yard on Cambridge University’s campus during a BBC World Service broadcast at age ten and by presenting his initial London recital at thirteen. He later trained with Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he earned the keyboard category of BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2000 and captured first prize at the Scottish International Piano Competition in 2007.

His recital appearances have encompassed the BBC Proms, frequent broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, and engagements at London’s Barbican alongside halls in Canada and across continental Europe. A repertoire exceeding forty concertos, stretching from Mozart to György Ligeti, has placed him before ensembles such as the BBC Philharmonic, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and the China National Symphony.

Equally recognized for chamber work, Poster serves as pianist of the Aronowitz Ensemble, performing at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, London’s Wigmore Hall, and numerous British festivals. He maintains regular partnerships with violinists Jennifer Pike and Elena Urioste—his spouse—trumpeter Alison Balsom, and cellist Guy Johnston, while also accompanying tenor Ian Bostridge and cellist Steven Isserlis. Appearances in piano quintets with the Brodsky, Martinu, and Navarra Quartets have complemented an extensive catalog of chamber recordings, beginning with his 2013 Chandos debut in Chausson’s Concerto for violin, piano, and string quartet, Op. 21.

Poster’s transcriptions of songs by George Gershwin and Cole Porter circulate widely in performance. He established the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, an ensemble emphasizing programming diversity that became an associate ensemble at Wigmore Hall in 2020. That same year he and Urioste initiated the online #UriPosteJukebox series, delivering eighty-eight listener-requested performances in which Poster appeared as pianist, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, curator, and dancer. The project received the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Inspiration Award and yielded the 2021 Orchid Classics release The Jukebox Album.