Upcoming Fundraising Concert

In this concert, Thomas will explore music by Andrew York, Abigél Varga and Martin Schley as well as improvisations. There will also be an opportunity to request musical postcards that will be recorded as part of the concert.

Thomas Siemens (Germany) grew up in a musical family where he received a broad musical education from a young age. This included lessons on the piano and on the violin (later viola) and singing lessons. His main focus quickly became the classical guitar where he was able to achieve multiple successes like winning a first prize at the “Federal Competition for Young Musicians” held by the German Music Council. Other notable achievements include winning the Isolde-von-Müller prize and playing at the international festival “Eurofestival der Zupfmusik”.

He completed his guitar studies with Michael Tröster, additionally, he attended Masterclasses with Aniello Desiderio, Scott Tennant, and Carlo Marchione among others. His artistic and musical work includes regular performances as soloist, as well as chamber music, and teaching. In recent years the pursuit of classical improvisation became a special focus.

Currently, Thomas Siemens is a doctoral student at Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he investigates improvisation on the guitar in the 19th century. His work focuses on the intersection between historiography, autoethnography, and practice, exploring what stories we carry in our practice and how if we change the story we tell our practice changes alongside it. He is supervised by Dr. Amy Blier-Carruthers, Professor David Dolan, Matthew Kaner, and Toby Carr.