Thomas Piercy

Thomas Piercy is an American clarinetist and hichiriki player based in New York City and Tokyo. He studied at the Juilliard School, Mannes College of Music, Virginia Commonwealth University and Shenandoah Conservatory, with clarinet teachers including Gervase de Peyer, Leon Russianoff and Kalmen Opperman, and studied hichiriki in Japan with Hitomi Nakamura and Hiroshi Shimada. He is one of the few non-Japanese professional hichiriki players.

He has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall and the Centre Pompidou, premiered more than 400 works by over 250 composers, including Ned Rorem’s Four Colors at Rorem’s 80th-birthday concert at Carnegie Hall, and performed with Earl Wild, Frederica von Stade and Leonard Bernstein. His hichiriki can be heard on the Emmy Award-winning series Blue Eye Samurai. He is artistic director of the Gotham Ensemble and of Tokyo to New York.

On Waves of Harmony, Thomas plays hichiriki on O Death.