Hamish Brown

Hamish Brown is a British pianist, arranger, and composer, based in London, UK. An award-winning and versatile artist, Hamish has performed as a vocal accompanist, chamber musician, orchestral pianist and concerto soloist at numerous prestigious venues across the UK and abroad.

Hamish is an acclaimed recital partner of many of the UK’s finest singers, and has won prizes for his 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.

His international work as a song accompanist has taken him to Wigmore Hall, Oxford International Song Festival, Schubertíada Vilabertran, Klosters Music Festival, Three Palaces Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, Heidelberger Frühling, International Lied Festival Zeist, The Danish Song Society, Hay Festival, Kings Place, Lewes Festival of Song, Aldeburgh Festival, Elgar Room, St John’s Smith Square, Syde Manor, V&A Museum, Leeds Lieder Festival and Deal Festival. He has performed at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Song Prize with rising star mezzo-soprano Beth Taylor, and has frequently performed and recorded with BBC New Generation Artist baritone James Atkinson.

Hamish has recently performed as a concerto soloist in the Concerto for 2 Pianos, 3 Hands (Arnold), Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major (Mozart) and the Piano Concerto in A minor (Schumann). As a concerto accompanist, he has twice been an official accompanist for the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition (2022–24).

Hamish is an active chamber musician, performing diverse repertoire with outstanding instrumentalists at Cadogan Hall, Saffron Hall, Buxton International Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Lichfield Festival, St George’s Bristol, Legislative Assembly of Madeira, Corvedale Festival and South Hill Park. Hamish enjoys an especially warm relationship with the Klosters Weihnachtskonzerte (Christmas Concerts) in Switzerland, at which he has performed annually since 2021.

His performances have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, BBC Four and Danish Radio (P2). He is featured in the premiere recording of the Concerto for Wind Quintet and Two Pianos (Eight Hands) by Malcolm Williamson, to be released on the Divine Art label in 2025.

Hamish is in high demand as an accompanist for conducting courses and masterclasses. In this capacity, he has longstanding affiliations with the Royal College of Music (Peter Stark, Toby Purser), the London Conducting Workshop (Howard Williams, John Farrer), the International Conducting Academy (Jonathan Mann), and individual links with renowned pedagogues Colin Metters and Martyn Brabbins.

As an orchestral pianist, Hamish has performed with orchestras including the RCM Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orpheus Sinfonia and Southbank Sinfonia, under conductors including Vladimir Jurowski, John Wilson, Jac van Steen, Brett Dean, Martin André, Michael Seal and Simon Over.

Throughout his career, Hamish has held a passion for work with innovative, challenging, multi-genre projects. Such experiences include Adding Machine (Joshua Schmidt) at the Finborough Theatre, Sideshows (Leo Geyer and Constella Music) at Sadler’s Wells, The Sound Voice Project (Hannah Conway) at Kings Place, and A Child In Striped Pyjamas (Noah Max) at the Cockpit Theatre.

Originally from Wiltshire, 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 has taken part in masterclasses given by pianists including Anna Markland, Ronan O’Hora, Philip Fowke, Peter Lawson, Michael Dussek, Joseph Middleton, Graham Johnson and Julius Drake, and singers including Dame Sarah Connolly, Elly Ameling, Edith Wiens, Susan McCulloch, Sir Thomas Allen, Sir Simon Keenlyside, Roderick Williams and Dennis O’Neill.

Hamish is a composer of solo, chamber and choral works. His original music has been performed by ensembles including Vaganza, Quatuor Danel and Asyla Ensemble. His most recent work, A Musical Instrument (poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning) for SATB choir and saxophone quartet, was performed by the Queen’s Park Singers in 2022 and 2023.

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

He also performed on the Ivor Novello Award-nominated track 'Cargo' from the 2015 album Bleeds by Roots Manuva, produced by Fred Again.