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Thomas Piercy's relationship as a student of three of the most revered clarinetists and teachers of the 20th century -- Gervase De Peyer, Kalmen Opperman, Leon Russianoff -- give Piercy an exceptional and extraordinarily valuable perspective to clarinet performance and teaching methods. He combines these acclaimed pedagogues and performers invaluable experience and influences with his own to bring about an exciting and varied teaching method tailored to each of his students unique strengths and needs.
 Piercy maintains a private teaching studio in New York City where he teaches clarinet, saxophone and voice to students of all ages and levels. Many of his high school students have been competition winners, performed in festivals and continued their studies in colleges and conservatories to pursue careers in music. His current and former students have performed in concert, on Broadway, TV and radio.
Thomas Piercy conducts Master Classes in colleges, universities, community music schools, high schools and festivals throughout the United States and Europe.
Thomas Piercy is a critically acclaimed musician with orchestral, concerto, solo recital and chamber music appearances throughout the Americas and Europe. Described by The New York Times as passionate and pulling out all the stops, Mr. Piercy presents audiences to varied and exciting concerts of standard classical music, jazz-inspired programs, contemporary works, pieces written specifically for him and his own original arrangements, compositions and collaborations. Piercy performs and records on rare rosewood large-bore clarinets made for him by Luis Rossi of Santiago, Chile, and Buffet Prestige clarinets with Opperman mouthpieces and barrels. His sound has been described by critics as uniquely beautiful and consistently warm.
Mr. Piercy has performed to critical acclaim at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center and other venues throughout the U.S. including Washington, D. C., Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. He has performed for Broadway, television, radio, video and commercial recordings. His many U. S. festival appearances have included a featured performance at the International ClarinetFest. He has performed in concerts and festivals in England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Denmark.
A recipient of numerous scholarships, prizes and awards, he studied clarinet, voice and conducting at the Juilliard School, Mannes College of Music, Virginia Commonwealth University and Shenandoah Conservatory. Piercy's earliest studies were in both voice and clarinet. He began his college education studying clarinet under Dr. Stephen Johnston at Shenandoah Conservatory and Gailyn Parks at Virginia Commonwealth University. He later moved to New York City to study with Gervase De Peyer under scholarship at Mannes College of Music; he continued to study extensively with De Peyer after leaving Mannes. Piercy later began studying with and soon became an assistant to the renowned clarinet pedagogue Leon Russianoff; additional clarinet studies and reed-making studies were undertaken with the famed clarinet pedagogue and composer Kalmen Opperman. In demand as a clarinet, sax and voice teacher, many of Piercy's students have gone on to schools and careers in music.
 Piercy is currently the Artistic Director and clarinetist of the Gotham Ensemble. A mixed vocal and instrumental ensemble based in New York City, the Gotham Ensemble premieres, performs and records a wide variety of repertoire, from the Classical to the avant-garde. A New York Times review of Gotham's Merkin Hall performance of a program of Olav Thommessen's music specifically encouraged the public to go out and purchase the recordings. After a performance of Ned Rorem's "Ariel" at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Mr. Rorem wrote of Gotham as one of America's important chamber music groups performing new music today. Albany Records recently released Gotham Ensemble Plays Ned Rorem, a CD of Ned Rorem's chamber music featuring the clarinet. Mr. Rorem, a Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award winning composer, wrote his only clarinet and piano piece, Four Colors," for Mr. Piercy. The work had its premier at an 80th birthday concert celebration for Mr. Rorem at Carnegie Hall in the fall of 2003.
Upcoming projects include CD releases of music by Villa-Lobos, Piazzolla, and a second volume of Rorem works.
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