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 Magazine).
During the 2020 lockdown, his #UriPosteJukebox series with Elena Urioste — featuring Poster as pianist, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, writer, backing dancer and snowman — brought a staggeringly diverse selection of music to audiences worldwide 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.
Poster is co-founder and artistic director of Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, which was appointed Associate Ensemble at Wigmore Hall in 2020. With a flexible lineup featuring many of today’s most inspirational musicians, and an ardent commitment to diversity through its creative programming, Kaleidoscope broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3 and has recently enjoyed residencies at the Aldeburgh, Cheltenham and Ischia festivals. Its debut album for Chandos Records, “American Quintets,” was awarded Editor’s Choice in Gramophone magazine and quickly led to an invitation to record a series of albums for the label.
Poster has performed more than 40 concertos from Mozart to Ligeti with Aurora Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, Bournemouth Symphony, China National Symphony, The Hallé, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic and Scottish Chamber Orchestra, collaborating with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Nicholas Collon, Robin Ticciati and Yan Pascal Tortelier. In addition, sometimes Poster conducts from the piano. He has premiered solo, chamber and concertante works by many leading composers and made multiple appearances at the BBC Proms. His exceptional versatility has put him in great demand at festivals internationally.
Poster has recorded albums for BIS, Champs Hill, Chandos, Decca, Orchid and Warner Classics, appearing as soloist and with Elena Urioste, Alison Balsom, Guy Johnston, the Aronowitz Ensemble, Aurora Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia and London Symphony Orchestra. He regularly is featured 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.
His compositions and arrangements have been commissioned, performed and recorded by Alison Balsom, Matthew Rose, Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott. 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.
June 2025
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSOA by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
