Tom Foster began his musical education at the age of eight, as a chorister at Manchester Cathedral and a pupil at Chetham's School of Music. Initially, his first study was the piano: he received tuition from Bernard Roberts. He began harpsichord lessons when he was fifteen, as a means of both satisfying his desire to perform early repertoire and also to escape the less attractive aspects of the piano world. He received the vast majority of his harpsichord tuition at Chetham’s from Sharon Gould. Tom is currently in his second year at St Catherine's College, Oxford, reading music. He has harpsichord lessons from Trevor Pinnock (and is his only pupil).

In addition to extensive performance experience at Chetham’s, Tom has given a solo recital in Oxford, and a duet programme (with Liam Byrne) of music for harpsichord and viola de gamba. He has also performed in the Wren Library at Lincoln Cathedral. He took part in the recital by several harpsichordists (of whom Tom was the youngest) to celebrate fifty years of harpsichord music by Stephen Dodgson, which was held earlier this year at Handel House. He has played the Bach harpsichord concerto in F major with Trevor Pinnock's recently formed European Baroque Ensemble. In November 2007, Tom made his London début in a BHS recital, playing works by Böhm, Fischer, Froberger, and Bach .

Since his days as a chorister, Tom has always turned to Renaissance choral music for nourishment. He has recently begun exploring English virginal music in depth, which he is finding tremendously exciting. Tom is looking forward to more continuo and ensemble work, as well as developing his career as a soloist.

 

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