THOMAS PIERCY
CLARINET & HICHIRIKI

(Click on photos to enlarge)

​Passionate. 
The New York Times 


The Intrepid clarinettist Thomas Piercy
The New Yorker


Brilliant...playing with refinement and flair....
The New York Times 


Piercy brought forth a sense of mood and appealing emotion helped by his consistently warm and beautiful sound. 
The Norway Times 


Piercy came out swinging. People could imagine they were hearing the late, great Benny Goodman as Piercy wove to and fro. 
The Richmond Times Dispatch 


Piercy played with expression and character. 
The New York Concert Review 


Piercy has it all...extraordinary technique, a uniquely beautiful sound.
He made the clarinet sing. 
Le Libre Paris 


A classic performance. 
The Clarinet Magazine 


Extraordinary performances by top players bring distinction to this recording... Piercy shows remarkable virtuosity in some deep emotional terrain. 
Times Union, NY 


While Ned Rorem’s music is certainly complex, it still possesses a romantic leaning that, especially with the Gotham Ensemble playing, is both thought-provoking and emotive. 
New Music Box 


Mr. Piercy is masterly on his clarinet. 
The New York Sun 


...an intense and illuminating musical experience, Tom Piercy met the many technical demands asked for in the work, especially providing colors ranging from warm to astringent. 
New Music Connoisseur 


The eight musicians include the composer at the piano and they play a score longer than many operas with as much easy energy at the end as at the beginning. 
The New York Times 


The Best Piazzolla in New York. On Monday afternoon, there couldn’t have been anything better...an impressively inclusive overview of Piazzolla’s career. Piercy’s often mournful clarinet brought out every bit of melody in the program. The crowd was spellbound. If Piercy’s planned upcoming recording of Piazzolla works is anything like this, it’ll be amazing. 
Lucid Culture 


It didn’t matter that there was no bandoneon in the band: the trio of clarinetist/arranger Thomas Piercy, pianist Claudine Hickman and upright bassist Pablo Aslan managed to silence the sold-out room with a practically telepathic, emotionally rich program of both familiar and more obscure compositions by the legendary Argentinian composer.

Piercy expertly worked the nooks and crannies of the songs’ innumerable permutations, only going full throttle when the piece demanded it. They wrapped up the program with an exquisite take of the classic Soledad, Piercy’s clarinet soaring to the heights with unaffectedly raw anguish right before the end, and closed with the vastly more optimistic, insistent Michelangelo ‘70. Piazzolla, ever the innovator, would no doubt have approved. 
Lucid Culture 

"Tokyo to New York - 2013"  A fascinatingly eclectic, virtuosic program of new works from Japan and the U.S.…Piercy tackled the music’s wide range of demands with verve, insight and sensitivity…his extended technique is subtly spectacular: throughout the concert, he exhibited misty overtones, eerie polytonalities, perfectly sinuous glissandos and command of the lows and highs beyond the reach of most clarinetists.  Piercy is doing crucial cultural preservation work here.
Lucid Culture

An expressive performance of the virtuosic program. 
The New York Times


…the contemporary fare here evoked a panache from the players…spirit and accomplishment everywhere…drew out brilliantly the shimmering sonic richness of the nine works on display. 
The New York Times