Brighton-born pianist Berniya Hamie (b. 2002) has performed across the UK and abroad both as a soloist and chamber musician, including at Wigmore Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, Cadogan Hall, Royal Festival Hall and the Purcell Room. A recipient of the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Piano Scholarship in 2024, she has been awarded numerous other national and international prizes. Berniya is currently undertaking postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School with Katya Apekisheva, Ronan O’Hora and Charles Owen as the Frederic William Trevena Award Holder, supported by a Countess of Munster Musical Trust Derek Butler Award, Help Musicians UK Postgraduate Award, Wayne Sleep Foundation Award and Craxton Memorial Trust Award.
Berniya previously studied piano and cello jointly at the RCM as a full scholar under Dina Parakhina and Hélène Dautry. From 2014-20 she was a student of Ian Jones and Konstantin Lapshin at the RCM Junior Department, where she won multiple major prizes and performed a concerto with the RCMJD Sinfonia under Robert Hodge. She was also awarded a solo recital at the Royal Albert Hall’s Elgar Room in 2019, which she performed to a sold out audience.
As a concerto soloist, Berniya’s performances include the Grieg 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. She gave the closing recital of the 10th edition of the Torre de Canyamel Piano Festival (Mallorca) in 2024 and has also performed across Italy and France. She was a junior recording artist and cover model for the 2017-18 ABRSM Grade 1 Piano Syllabus and gave the world premiere of Karen Tanaka’s Masquerade at the ABRSM Spectrum 5 launch in 2015. Berniya was selected as a Tabor Piano Ambassador for the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2021, representing the Royal College of Music, and continues to work with the competition to deliver education and outreach initiatives.
Berniya has worked in masterclasses with musicians including Paul Lewis, Richard Goode, Robert Levin, Imogen Cooper, Till Fellner and Boris Berman.
An incredibly versatile musician, she was the cellist of the Fiora Quartet from 2021-24. The quartet’s performances included a recital at the Chipping Campden Festival and a side-by-side concert with the Brodsky Quartet, as well as masterclasses with the Chiaroscuro Quartet, Quartetto di Cremona, Sacconi Quartet and Rachel Podger among others. They were also second prize winners in the RCM’s 2022 String Quartet Competition and semi-finalists in the Royal Overseas League Chamber Competition in 2024. The quartet were one of three groups chosen for the RCM String Quartet Platform scheme in 2023/24 and were selected as Britten Pears Young Artists for 2024/25. Berniya has also sat as principal cellist of the RCM Philharmonic.
Berniya is grateful for the support of the Westdene Fund and Maggie Grimsdell (Music at Longhill Road).
ASTATINE TRIO 