CLARINET
篳篥 Hichiriki
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THOMAS PIERCY
Clarinet & Hichiriki トーマス・ピアシー クラリネット & 篳篥 Thomas Piercy is a critically acclaimed clarinetist and hichiriki player with orchestral, concerto, solo recital, and chamber music appearances throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. The New York Times called his playing "Brilliant...playing with refinement and flair…evoking a panache in the contemporary works…." A dedicated advocate for new music, Mr. Piercy has premiered more than 400 works written for him by over 250 composers, including works by Ned Rorem, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Jennifer Higdon, Fernando Otero, and Shoichi Yabuta. He is currently one of the only non-Japanese professional gagaku performers in Japan, and he can be heard playing hichiriki in the Emmy Award-winning Netflix series Blue Eye Samurai. A versatile artist who defies categorization, Piercy has played clarinet on the Emmy Award-winning Juno Baby; performed Rhapsody in Blue with pianist Earl Wild; improvised in concert with pianist Donal Fox; performed Mozart with mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade; played Broadway songs with Raul Julia; conducted Cabaret and Rodgers & Hammerstein; worked with Leonard Bernstein; appeared in a KRS-ONE music video; and recorded with members of Maroon 5. He has also worked on Broadway and Off-Broadway, television, radio, video, and commercial recording. Piercy performs and records on rare rosewood and mopane English-bore clarinets made for him by Luis Rossi of Santiago, Chile. Critics have described his sound as "uniquely beautiful and consistently warm." His repertoire ranges from the Classical period to new works written for him. The pieces for clarinet, bass clarinet, or hichiriki include solos, duos, trios, quartets, larger mixed ensembles, concertos, and double concertos. Ned Rorem wrote his only clarinet and piano piece, Four Colors, for Piercy, and it premiered at Rorem's 80th birthday celebration at Carnegie Hall. A more comprehensive list is at http://www.thomaspiercy.com/composer-premieres.html. Piercy has performed at many of the world's most acclaimed venues, including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center (New York), the Kennedy Center (Washington, DC), the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series (Chicago), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Wigmore Hall (London), Accademia di Santa Cecilia (Rome), and Tokyo Opera City (Tokyo). His festival appearances include serving as a Headline Artist at the 2025 International Clarinet Association's ClarinetFest, where he premiered Bin Li's Concerto for Clarinet with gagaku ensemble and string orchestra. He also gave a featured performance in memory of Leon Russianoff at the 1991 ClarinetFest, a concert of contemporary American music at the 2005 ClarinetFest in Tokyo, and an all-Piazzolla concert at the 2007 International Clarinet Festival in Vancouver. He premiered Margaret Brouwer's Sonata as the ICA's first composer consortium commission. Piercy has received grants for recordings, commissions, and performances from the Cary Trust (1999–2010), the Scandinavian Foundation, the International Clarinet Association, the New York State Council on the Arts (1999–2026), the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (1999–2026), NYC Creative Engagement (2020), and New Music USA (2020). His earliest studies were in both voice and clarinet. A recipient of numerous scholarships, prizes, and awards, he studied clarinet, voice, and conducting at the Juilliard School, Mannes College of Music, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Shenandoah Conservatory. His teachers included Dr. Stephen Johnston at Shenandoah and Gailyn Parks at VCU. He then moved to New York to study with Gervase De Peyer on scholarship at Mannes and continued with De Peyer after leaving. He later studied with, and became an assistant to, the renowned pedagogue Leon Russianoff, and pursued additional clarinet and reed-making studies with Kalmen Opperman. In Japan, he studied hichiriki with Hitomi Nakamura and Hiroshi Shimada. His arrangements and transcriptions have been published by Boosey & Hawkes, and as Opperman's assistant he contributed to clarinet study books and compositions published by Carl Fischer and Baron Publishing. A sought-after clarinet, saxophone, and voice teacher, many of his students have gone on to schools and careers in music. Piercy is Artistic Director and clarinetist of the Gotham Ensemble, a mixed vocal and instrumental group based in New York City that premieres, performs, and records repertoire from the Classical to the avant-garde. A New York Times review of Gotham's Merkin Hall performance of Olav Thommessen's music urged readers to buy the recordings. After a performance of Rorem's Ariel at Weill Recital Hall, Rorem called Gotham one of America's important chamber music groups performing new music. Albany Records released Gotham Ensemble Plays Ned Rorem, a CD of Rorem's chamber music featuring the clarinet. He is also Artistic Director of Tokyo to New York, a composer/performer ensemble based in New York and Tokyo that celebrates the connections between the two cities in concerts around the world. Programs feature new works for Western classical instruments and traditional Japanese instruments, by composers from Japan, New York, and beyond, in a wide variety of contemporary styles. The composers range from 10 to 99 years old and from elementary and university students to professors, self-taught writers to PhDs, and emerging voices to winners of the Takemitsu Prize, Grammy Award, Latin Grammy Award, and Pulitzer Prize. Since 2012, Piercy and Tokyo to New York have performed over 200 world premieres and numerous Japan and U.S. premieres. The New York Times chose one of its concerts as a critics' concert of the week, NYClassical Review named another a season highlight, and Lucid Culture Magazine called one "…a fascinatingly eclectic, virtuosic program of new chamber works." Piercy's discography includes Gotham Ensemble Plays Ned Rorem (Albany Records); CAFE, music for clarinet and guitar (Tonada Records); the world-premiere recording of Sir Richard Rodney Bennett's Ballad in Memory of Shirley Horn; and the Emmy Award-winning CDs and DVDs Juno Baby. He has recorded for Albany, Capstone, DGI, Changing Tones, NJST, Tonada, and other labels, and can be heard on commercial, film, and theater recordings. Thomas Piercy is an official Rossi Clarinet, Forestone Reeds and Silverstein Artist.
www.rossiclarinet.com www.forestone-japan.com www.silversteinworks.com
Short Bio (287 words) Short bio (150 words) see below
Thomas Piercy, based in New York City and Tokyo, is a critically acclaimed clarinetist and hichiriki player appearances throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. A dedicated advocate for new music, he has premiered more than 400 works written for him by over 250 composers, and he is currently one of the only non-Japanese professional gagaku performers in Japan. The New York Times described his playing as "Brilliant...playing with refinement and flair…evoking a panache in the contemporary works." A versatile artist who defies categorization, Piercy has played clarinet on the Emmy Award-winning Juno Baby and hichiriki on the Emmy Award-winning Netflix series Blue Eye Samurai. He appeared as a Headline Artist at the 2025 ICA ClarinetFest, performed with pianist Earl Wild and mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, worked with Leonard Bernstein, appeared in a KRS-ONE rap music video, and recorded with members of Maroon 5 and other pop groups. He has also performed on Broadway and Off-Broadway and in television, radio, and commercial recordings. His repertoire ranges from the Classical period to premieres of works written for him by some of today's most outstanding composers, including Ned Rorem, Jennifer Higdon, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Fernando Otero, and Shoichi Yabuta. Composers writing for him have ranged from 10 to 99 years of age and come from all walks of life: from emerging composers to winners of the Grammy Award, Latin Grammy Award, Takemitsu Prize, Geneva Prize, and Pulitzer Prize. Piercy studied at the Juilliard School and Mannes School of Music. His clarinet teachers include Gervase De Peyer, Dr. Stephen Johnston, Leon Russianoff, and Kalmen Opperman; he studied hichiriki in Japan with Hitomi Nakamura and Hiroshi Shimada. He has recorded for Albany, Capstone, DGI, Changing Tones, NJST, Tonada Records, and more. More information: www.thomaspiercy.com Short bio (150 words) Thomas Piercy, based in New York City and Tokyo, is a critically acclaimed clarinetist and hichiriki player with appearances throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. The New York Times described his playing as "Brilliant...playing with refinement and flair." He has premiered more than 400 works written for him by over 250 composers. He is currently one of the only non-Japanese professional gagaku performers in Japan. A versatile artist who defies categorization, Piercy played clarinet on the Emmy Award-winning Juno Baby and hichiriki on the Emmy Award-winning Netflix series Blue Eye Samurai. He premiered works by some of today's most outstanding composers, including Ned Rorem, Jennifer Higdon, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, Fernando Otero, and Shoichi Yabuta. Piercy studied at the Juilliard School and Mannes School of Music. His clarinet teachers include Gervase De Peyer, Dr. Stephen Johnston, Leon Russianoff, and Kalmen Opperman. He studied hichiriki in Japan with Hitomi Nakamura and Hiroshi Shimada. He has recorded for Albany, Capstone, DGI, Changing Tones, NJST, Tonada Records, and more. More information: www.thomaspiercy.com Thomas Piercy is an official Rossi Clarinet, Forestone Reeds and Silverstein Artist.
www.rossiclarinet.com www.forestone-japan.com www.silversteinworks.com トーマス・ピアシー
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