A pianist whose expertise encompasses contemporary compositions, Polish works, and seldom-performed pieces, Clare Hammond has introduced numerous new scores to the public in their first performances. Her recordings appear on the BIS label.
Born in London in 1985, she spent her childhood in Nottingham and attended Nottingham Girls' High School before earning a “double first” at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. She pursued additional training at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under Ronan O’Hara and completed a DMA at City University of London with a dissertation on concertos composed for the left hand. In the 2011 film Hysteria she portrayed a piano instructor and served as the hand double for Felicity Jones during keyboard sequences; she appeared again on screen in 2015’s The Lady in the Van, contributing to its soundtrack as well. Hammond has appeared as soloist with major ensembles throughout Britain and continental Europe, among them the Liverpool Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic, and BBC Symphony, and has given recitals at Wigmore Hall in London. Her focus on contemporary and Polish repertory has led to repeated tours of Poland; those pursuits converged when she drew wide attention for her role in the 2014 Andrzej Panufnik Centenary Celebration, after which she issued her debut BIS recording, Reflections: The Solo Piano Music of Andrzej and Roxanna Panufnik. Among the composers whose works she has introduced are Kenneth Hesketh, David Matthews, and Robert Saxton. An active chamber musician, she has worked with the Brodsky, Endellion, and Dante Quartets and numerous additional ensembles.
Hammond has released five albums on BIS through the early 2020s, among them Variations (2021), together with discs devoted to Hesketh and Saxton—the latter appearing on Toccata Classics—while also recording The Art of Dancing (2018) for Signum Classics. In collaboration with Gloucestershire Music she presents school recitals that have reached more than 5,000 young listeners.
