Thursday Lunchtime Concert – pianist Berniya Hamie

Born in Brighton in 2002, Berniya Hamie studies piano with Dina Parakhina and cello with Hélène Dautry at the Royal College of Music on a full scholarship, currently as an ABRSM scholar and previously as the John and Marjorie Coultate Scholar. 

In September 2021, she was selected as one of six Tabor Piano Ambassadors for the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition, representing the RCM, and continues to work with the competition in delivering education and outreach initiatives. Berniya joined the RCM Junior Department as a WolfsonFoundation scholar in 2014 and studied there with Ian Jones and Konstantin Lapshin until 2020; during her studies she won several awards including the Senior Recital and Piano Prizes, Marjorie Humby Memorial Competition and Barbara Boissard Junior Concerto Competition, leading to a concerto performance with the RCMJD Sinfonia. She has twice performed sold out recitals at the Royal Albert Hall’s Elgar Room, having been awarded a solo recital in November 2019 and then performing a duo recital with her sister in February 2023. Berniya was also selected as a junior recording artist and cover model for the 2017-18 ABRSM Piano Grade 1 Syllabus and gave the world premiere of Karen Tanaka’s ‘Masquerade’ at the ABRSM Spectrum 5 launch.

She has won numerous prizes at competitions and festivals around the country, including the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Piano Scholarship 2024, and performed at prestigious venues including the Wigmore Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Cadogan Hall, Purcell Room and Royal Festival Hall. Her concerto highlights include Grieg’s Piano Concerto with the Brighton Youth Orchestra under Andrew Sherwood as part of the 2018 Brighton Festival, and Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto no.2 with the Worthing Philharmonic under Dominic Grier in March 2023.

Berniya is a founder member of the award-winning Astatine Trio, with which she regularly performs across the UK and abroad. Formed at the Royal College of Music in 2021, the trio were unanimously awarded First Prize at the 2022 Senior Intercollegiate Piano Trio Competition as the youngest entrants, with an average age of 18. They went on to win the First Prize and Luigi Boccherini Prize at the International Virtuoso & Belcanto Chamber Competition (Lucca, Italy) in July 2022 and were joint first prize winners at the Birmingham International Piano Chamber Music Competition in November 2022. Most recently, the trio were the youngest finalists of the 2023 Lyon International Chamber Music Competition and were awarded the SEAM prize for contemporary music. They are Britten Pears Young Artists for the 2023/24 season, as one of five ensembles selected for the Chamber Music in Residence program, and appeared on BBC Radio 3 In Tune in February 2024. The trio are privileged to be mentored by Alfred Brendel on his invitation.

An incredibly versatile musician, she is also the cellist of the FioraQuartet; they were second prize winners in the RCM’s 2022 String Quartet Competition, leading to a performance at the Chipping Campden Festival in May 2022, and are one of three quartets selected for the RCM String Quartet Platform scheme for 2023/24. She has also sat as principal cello of the RCM Philharmonic. Berniya is grateful for the support of the Westdene Fund.