Acclaimed as a “pianist of extraordinary gifts” (Gramophone) and “immense power” (The Times), Clare Hammond is recognised for the virtuosity and authority of her performances. In 2016, she won the Royal Philharmonic Society's 'Young Artist Award' in recognition of outstanding achievement and in 2020 she was engaged to perform at the International Piano Series (Southbank Centre). This season she appears with the CBSO (Michael Seal) and BBC NOW, performs at the Aldeburgh and Husum Festivals, and gives live broadcasts for BBC Radio 3, and Danish Radio with violinist Henning Kraggerud.
Performances during the pandemic included recitals for the Wigmore Hall and Aldeburgh Music, a live recital broadcast for BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concerts from St David’s Cardiff, and broadcast recordings of Moussa and Carwithen with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Geoffrey Paterson) and BBC Concert Orchestra (Gavin Sutherland). During 2020-21, Clare was engaged to perform with the Britten Sinfonia (Ryan Wigglesworth), Sinfonia Varsovia (Jacek Kaspszyk), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Christoph Altstaedt) and the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Dalia Stasevska). In recent seasons, she has performed with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (Vasily Petrenko), Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra (Jacek Kaspszyk), and Philharmonia (Jamie Phillips). Clare gave the world premiere of Uncoiling The River by Kenneth Hesketh with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (Martyn Brabbins) and released the Complete Keyboard Works of Myslivecek with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra (Nicholas McGegan) for BIS Records in 2019.
Clare’s discs for BIS have been widely praised with her latest, Variations, receiving extensive critical approval. The disc was commended for its “shimmering pianism and lightly-worn virtuosity” (BBC Music Magazine) and “artistry of the highest order” (Musical Opinion), while Crescendo (Belgium) hailed her as “one of the most exploratory pianistic personalities of our time”. Clare’s discography includes world premiere recordings of over twenty works.
Clare completed a BA at Cambridge University, where she obtained a double first in music, and undertook postgraduate study with Ronan O’Hora at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
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Don Juan: The Brilliant Irreverence of Lord Byron concert-play
OSO Theatre Barnes, February 2022
Some people are born simply too talented...pianist Clare Hammond performed works by Beethoven, Debussy and others in between playing three female roles on stage, earning praise for her fantastic acting skills
BBC Music Magazine
Variations
BIS Records, February 2021
Hammond keeps us enthralled to the last bar
Ivan Hewett, The Telegraph
In a relatively short time, Clare Hammond has established herself as a pianist of impressive abilities who avidly explores repertory of the past century, along with the music of her contemporaries...Hammond’s grasp of this formidable intellectual edifice is secure throughout, abetted by a beguiling colour palette, unfailing textural clarity and plenty of rhythmic vigour...Ultimately this is a richly wide-ranging, deftly chosen programme, exhibiting intellectual curiosity and probity, played by a pianist of extraordinary gifts. Hammond also supplies her own keenly intelligent annotations. Highly recommended.
Patrick Rucker, Gramophone
Hammond still exudes the air of someone who sprinkles her morning cereal with iron filings, but these days her hard determination lies less in the fingers than in her rigorous appetite for unfamiliar music....A player of immense power, tightly harnessed now to the moment’s expressive need...you emerge from this album largely refreshed and enlightened by her formidable technique, lack of preening and insatiable repertoire probing. And her neatest discovery? Surely it’s Helmut Lachenmann’s unusually benign Schubert Variations of 1956, an early work that never once suggests his later amazing activities subjecting instrumental sounds to the equivalent of vivisection.
Geoff Brown, The Times
Shimmering pianism and lightly-worn virtuosity
Paul Riley, BBC Music Magazine
The displays of invention can be dazzling, especially in the way Hammond programmes them
Fiona Maddocks, The Observer
This is an impeccably programmed album of variations from the 20th and 21st centuries...The Birtwistle is laudably unhurried, with Hammond again finding beauty in dissonance...A questing, highly intelligent pianist… stunningly recorded at the height of her powers
Colin Clarke, International Piano
One of the most exploratory pianistic personalities of our time
Jean Lacroix, Crescendo
Artistry of the highest order
Paul Conway, Musical Opinion
Splendid interpretations from a great pianist
Carsten Dürer, Piano News Germany
Jaw-dropping dexterity
Textura Canada
Astonishing technical refinement
Rémy Franck, Pizzicato
Myslivecek
BIS Records, March 2019
Sprightliness abounds in the concertos and short pieces gathered here, delivered with deliciously unfussy poise and elegance on a modern Steinway, crisply supported by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and the conductor Nicholas McGegan
Geoff Brown, The Times
Perfectly judged tone
Erica Jeal, The Guardian
A more than impeccable performance
Sophie Bourdais, Télérama
Very sincere and tastefully eloquent
Rémy Franck, Pizzicato
Sie geht mit Feuer, Esprit eine Verkündigungseifer zu Werke
Rainer W. Janke, Klassik Heute
Kenneth Hesketh: Horae (pro clara)
BIS Records, April 2016
A star interpreter of contemporary music
Fiona Maddocks, The Observer
A winning combination of technical subtlety and expressive spontaneity
Arnold Whittall, Gramophone
Flawless transparency and technique
Dr Hartmut Lück, Klassik Heute
Magnificently interpreted by Clare Hammond
Le Disquaire
When she gets her claws out, Clare Hammond is impressive
Pierre Rigaudière, Diapason
Selected reviews
The young British rising star Clare Hammond was a dazzling athlete
Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian
Appealing delicacy
Brian Barford, Classical Source
Clare Hammond was the nimble soloist
Andrew Clements, The Guardian
I sniff the air to see if I can small smoke coming from the ivories
Thomas Hannah, Line of Best Fit
Exceptional musicianship
Paul Conway, Musical Opinion
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