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Portrait of Thomas Burrill at the piano
Thomas Burrill

Biography

Thomas Burrill

Piano

Born and raised in Iowa City, Iowa, pianist Thomas Burrill is a performer, educator and arts advocate whose career spans four continents. He has appeared on major stages including multiple appearances at Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall in New York, Boston's Jordan Hall and Symphony Hall, and Cleveland's Severance Hall. His performances have been broadcast nationally in the United States on National Public Radio, as well as on local stations nationwide, and have been supported by institutions such as the National Endowment for the Arts and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Teaching and outreach

Equally devoted to teaching, Thomas has held faculty and professional teaching roles in performance, chamber music, collaborative piano, theory and music history, including appointments at the New England Conservatory, and has served in artistic and administrative roles with programmes such as the Perlman Music Program and Morningside Music Bridge. His work as an educator extends beyond the conservatory setting into community-focused projects that support under-resourced communities, neurodivergent students and families. He has also contributed to designing and implementing performance and education initiatives supporting causes such as Alzheimer's research, collaborating with organisations and institutions including Harvard University, the University of Iowa and the Cure Alzheimer's Fund.

Collaboration

As both soloist and collaborator, he has worked closely with distinguished artists including Don Weilerstein, Laurence Lesser, Lluís Claret and Kim Kashkashian, as well as notable living composers such as Julian Anderson, and he frequently partners with visual artists, dancers and other cross-disciplinary collaborators. These projects reflect his belief that music functions as a meeting ground where diverse perspectives can be heard, challenged and held in common.

Training and leadership

Thomas holds advanced degrees from the New England Conservatory, where he studied solo and collaborative piano with mentors Vivian Weilerstein and Wha Kyung Byun. He concurrently serves in a senior leadership role at a UN-affiliated international arts organisation, supporting emerging artists and cultural diplomacy initiatives. Guided by the belief that music is not only to be performed but also shared in service of human connection, he continues to shape a career that unites performance, education and advocacy in pursuit of a more empathetic and interconnected world.