Welcome to a new season of the #RAArtistinFocus! First up is Clare Hammond, who makes her BBC Proms debut this Sunday, performing Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini with the BBC Concert Orchestra at Theatre Royal Nottingham!
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Clare Hammond has an exciting autumn of debuts lined up – she also makes her Konzerthaus Berlin debut this month, performing a sold-out Espresso-Konzert, and in November she makes her Canadian debut at Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal's Salle Bourgie as part of their ‘Outstanding Pianists’ series, where she will perform selections from her critically acclaimed disc of Etudes by Hélène de Montgeroult, as well as favourites by Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin.
Listen to some Etudes by Hélène de Montgeroult performed by Clare at Wigmore Hall here. More info on her upcoming concerts here.
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Clare has given the world premiere of over 50 works, and this season premieres two new concertos.
The first is a newly discovered and never before heard movement by Andrzej Panufnik, to be premiered with Filharmonia Poznańska in November. She was heavily involved in the composer's centenary year, and released a disc of solo piano works by Andrzej and Roxana Panufnik - read reviews and listen here.
In February 2025, she gives the world premiere of a new concerto by Ninfea Cruttwell-Reade, written especially for Clare and commissioned for her by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
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Clare Hammond released a digital EP of works on PENTATONE by composer Edmund Finnis in 2024. It received 5* from BBC Music Magazine, and the disc was nominated for a 2024 Edison Klassiek Award.
"Clare Hammond matches perfectly [the pieces'] balance of wonder, reflection and playful flashes of heat in coolly compressed, ambiguous emotion" (BBC Music Magazine)
“[Finnis’s cycle] gains much from Clare Hammond’s exquisite performance” (Gramophone)
“Composer Edmund Finnis has found the ideal performer for his evocative music in pianist Clare Hammond, who […] brings each piece perfectly to life” (Edison Klassiek).
Further releases in 2024 from Clare include a piece on Graham Fitkin's album 'Loosening' on Signum Classics, and 'Haiku' on Michael Berkeley's portrait album 'Collaborations' on Orchid Classics.
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Clare Hammond has had a fantastic 23-24 season, starting it with a recital at the Treasury at No. 11 Downing St, and finishing it this Sunday with her Proms debut in her hometown of Nottingham.It marks the first time Nottingham has ever hosted a Proms concert, and takes place at the Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall, where Clare gave her first ever concerto performance, with the Nottingham Youth Orchestra.
Tickets still available for Sunday's Prom here: https://trch.co.uk/whats-on/bbc-proms-nottingham/
If you can’t make it to Nottingham, you can listen live on BBC Radio 3 here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0022jym
