Hamish Brown

Hamish Brown is a British pianist, arranger, and composer based in London. His diverse work as an acclaimed and award-winning collaborative artist spans the genres of art song, chamber music, concertos and orchestral keyboard.

Over the course of his varied, versatile and imaginative career, Hamish has performed at venues and festivals including Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall, BBC Proms, Oxford International Song Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, Cadogan Hall, Klosters Music Festival, Royal Festival Hall, Schubertíada Vilabertran, Kings Place, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Sadler’s Wells, Saffron Hall, Buxton International Festival, Heidelberger Frühling, Aldeburgh Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Hay Festival, Three Palaces Festival, International Lied Festival Zeist, V&A Museum, Leeds Lieder Festival, King’s Lynn Festival, Deal Festival, St John’s Smith Square, Lichfield Festival, Legislative Assembly of Madeira, The Danish Song Society, Syde Manor, St George’s Bristol, Lewes Festival of Song, Corvedale Festival and South Hill Park. He also enjoys an especially warm relationship with the Klosters Weihnachtskonzerte (Christmas Concerts) in Switzerland, at which he has performed annually since 2021.

A highly regarded recital partner of many of the UK’s finest singers, he has won many prizes for his collaborative performances at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards, Royal Over Seas League Annual Music Competition, Wigmore Hall Song Competition, Copenhagen Lied-Duo Competition, Mozart Singing Competition and Somerset Song Prize.

Hamish has recently featured as soloist in the Piano Concerto in A minor (Schumann), the Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major (Mozart), and the Concerto for 2 Pianos, 3 Hands (Arnold). Since 2022, he has also been an official accompanist for the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition.

As an orchestral keyboard player, he has performed with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orpheus Sinfonia, Southbank Sinfonia and RCM Symphony Orchestra, under conductors including Vasily Petrenko, John Wilson, Vladimir Jurowski, Thomas Adès, Alexander Shelley, Jac van Steen, Brett Dean, Martin André, Michael Seal and Simon Over.

In a similar vein, his affinity with the symphonic repertoire has led him to be in high demand as an accompanist for numerous conducting courses and masterclasses. In this capacity, he maintains longstanding affiliations with the Royal College of Music, the International Conducting Academy, the London Conducting Workshop, the Purser and Ravì Conducting Academy, and cherished individual links with celebrated pedagogues Colin Metters and Martyn Brabbins.

His performances have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, BBC Four and DR P2 (Denmark). His debut album, a recital disc entitled The Deeps Have Music, with internationally celebrated mezzo-soprano Beth Taylor, will be released in March 2026 (Linn Records). The duo will tour this programme across many venues, concluding at Wigmore Hall. He is featured in the world première recording of the Concerto for Wind Quintet and Two Pianos (Eight Hands) by Malcolm Williamson (Divine Art, 2025).

Throughout his career, Hamish has held a passion for work with innovative, challenging, multi-genre projects. Such experiences include Adding Machine by Joshua Schmidt, Sideshows by Leo Geyer, The Sound Voice Project by Hannah Conway, and A Child In Striped Pyjamas by Noah Max. He was featured on the Ivor Novello Award-nominated track ‘Cargo’ from the 2015 album Bleeds by Roots Manuva, produced by Fred Again.

As a jazz pianist, he has played with the Manchester University Big Band and RCM Big Band (guest directed by renowned trumpeter Mike Lovatt). He has worked in musical theatre, including Sunday in the Park with George by Stephen Sondheim, and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying by Frank Loesser.

Hamish is a composer of solo, chamber and choral works. His most recent work, A Musical Instrument, sets a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, scored for choir and saxophone quartet, premiered by the Queen’s Park Singers. Other music of his has been performed by various ensembles including Vaganza, Quatuor Danel and Asyla Ensemble.

Over the course of his musical education, Hamish participated in masterclasses given by pianists including Graham Johnson, Julius Drake, Joseph Middleton, Michael Dussek, Anna Markland, Ronan O’Hora, Philip Fowke and Peter Lawson, and singers including Dame Sarah Connolly, Brigitte Fassbaender, Sir Thomas Allen, Elly Ameling, Thomas Quasthoff, Roderick Williams, Sir Simon Keenlyside, Gerald Finley, Edith Wiens, Dennis O’Neill and Susan McCulloch.

Originally from Wiltshire, UK, Hamish read music at the University of Manchester, studying piano with Andrew Wilde, and graduating with First Class Honours. He continued with postgraduate studies in Piano Accompaniment, studying with Simon Lepper and Roger Vignoles at the Royal College of Music, where he was awarded first prizes for accompaniment in all four major RCM vocal competitions. His studies were generously supported by Knights of the Round Table, a Help Musicians UK Harrison Award, and a Musicians’ Company Lambert Studentship, and he graduated in 2016 with Distinction.

Following his studies, Hamish was a Britten Pears Young Artist (supported by a Viola Tunnard Scholarship) and an Oxford Lieder Young Artist. From 2018–22, he returned to the RCM as a Collaborative Piano Fellow, where his tenure was further generously supported by the Lord and Lady Lurgan Trust, the Gilbert & Eileen Edgar Foundation and a legacy from Anthony Saltmarsh. He continues to work at the RCM as a staff accompanist across all faculties.