Tom Borrow, piano | Studio Longardi

Tom Borrow

Pianist

"Tom Borrow is already a star and we will all surely hear more about him"

Tom Borrow is Artist-in-Residence for the OSESP - Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo for their 70th anniversary season

Together with the OSESP musicians and Maestro Thierry Fischer, Tom will perform all five Beethoven piano concertos across two seasons, with the first three in 2024 and the final two in 2025.

Biography

In January 2019, Tom Borrow was called on to replace renowned pianist Khatia Buniatishvili in a series of concerts with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. At only 36 hours' notice, he won sensational public and critical acclaim. Following this successful series Tom was reinvited by the IPO several times.

After a hugely praised US debut with the Cleveland Orchestra, Tom was named a BBC New Generation Artist and made his BBC Proms debut at the Royal Albert Hall, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He was presented with the prestigious Terence Judd-Hallé Orchestra Award 2023 and also received the Alte Oper Frankfurt’s Young Artist Prize. He is Artist-in-Residence for the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (OSESP) across two years, for their 70th anniversary season, playing all the Beethoven concertos, and was Artist-in-Residence for the Hallé Orchestra.

In the 2024/25 season, Tom makes debuts at the Vienna Musikverein’s Great Hall, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Società del Quartetto di Milano, De Bijloke Ghent and others, and first collaborations with conductors including Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Masaaki Suzuki and Sir Mark Elder. Returns and reunions include the Concertgebouw Amsterdam (main series), São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Vancouver Recital Society, and conductors such as Fabio Luisi and Roberto Forés Veses.

Tom has been invited by major orchestras around the world - other recent and forthcoming engagements include the Baltimore Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, the Czech Philharmonic, the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and the Danish National Symphony - and by leading conductors including Semyon Bychkov, Sakari Oramo, Stephane Deneve, Xian Zhang, Thierry Fischer and Maxim Emelyanychev.

Equally in-demand on the chamber music and recital fronts, recent and upcoming engagements include the Verbier Festival, Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Konzerthaus, Ruhr Piano Festival, Cal Performances, Vancouver Recital Society and Festival Piano Aux Jacobins.

Gramophone and International Piano both named Tom a “One To Watch”, Pianist magazine called him “one of the greats of tomorrow”, and Interlude magazine named him their Artist Of The Month.

Video gallery

Rachmaninov - Prelude in G Sharp Minor Op. 32 No. 12

Tom Borrow at the Wigmore Hall (May 2023)

Beethoven - Piano Concerto No 3

Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra

Chopin - Polonaise fantaisie in A flat major, Op 61

Tom Borrow, piano

Ravel - Piano Concerto (movts. 2 and 3)

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

Tom Borrow’s inspired Beethoven raises the temperature in Sheffield

"The evening reached a triumphant conclusion, in no small measure a consequence of the exceptional pianism of Tom Borrow in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no. 3 in C minor. Borrow may only be in his early twenties, but his Beethoven already feels assertively mature [...] the perfect manipulation of dynamics in the sombre first movement and the bustling dancing quality of the finale confirmed that he is a soloist of rare quality."

- Phil Parker , Bachtrack

Thrilling Xenakis Proms premiere but an underwhelming Sacre from Martyn Brabbins and the BBC SO

Where the BBC SO’s quality of sound had been used to such ravishing effect was in the Adagio of Ravel’s G major Piano Concerto. Played by the 22-year-old Tel Aviv-born pianist Tom Borrow, you could have heard a pin drop during much of this movement. In some performances the Adagio can sound overworked but not in this one. Borrow was simply hypnotic, his playing not so much to be confused with delicacy of touch but rather a willingness to bring infinite expression to each and every note.

- Marc Bridle , Seen and Heard International

Everyday miracle from Brabbins and the BBC Symphony Orchestra

Soloist Tom Borrow, making his Proms debut, is already master of his part [...] The dazzling performance of the finale led to an encore, and Tom Borrow offered more fireworks, both titular and keyboard. Debussy’s prelude Feux d’artifice was brilliantly played.

- Roy Westbrook , Bachtrack