Ambre Hammond
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ambre Hammond (born 1977) is an Australian classical pianist.
Ambre Hammond learnt to play the piano with her mother Carolyn Hammond from age 3 to 16 years. She gave her first concert at the age of 5. In 1990 Hammond achieved a world record when she was awarded Associate and Licentiate Diplomas of music, both in the same year at just 12 years of age. At the age of 16, in Argentina, Hammond won first prize in her first International music competition. The next year, she was invited to return to Argentina to perform in her debut performance with the Cordoba Symphony Orchestra where her historic performance of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 was recorded live and described as one of the greatest performances of this work ever performed[citation needed]. Hammond also recorded piano works of Franz Liszt at just 16 years of age, including demanding works such as Bellini's Reminiscences of Norma, Mephisto Waltz No. 1, Apres une lecture du Dante and Wilde Jagd. Both recordings issued on the Gold Classics label.
Hammond has performed both solo and with orchestras in Australia, Europe (England, Italy, Poland, Spain, Switzerland), North America and South America. She has performed with the SBS Youth Orchestra, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Fribourg Youth Orchestra and the Orchestra of the City in London.
Lalo Schifrin, a renown Hollywood film score writer has composed a double concerto for Ambre Hammond and trumpeter James Morrison which was premiered in Australia and performed worldwide in 2006.