Lauded for a ‘tonal palette rich beyond her years’ (Brighton Festival FringeReview), Brighton-born pianist Berniya Hamie performs widely across the UK and abroad as a highly sought-after chamber musician and soloist.
Her festival appearances include the BBC Proms as well as Cheltenham, Brighton, Peasmarsh, London Piano and North Norfolk festivals, and she regularly performs at venues such as Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, the Royal Albert Hall, Cadogan Hall, Royal Festival Hall and the Purcell Room. A BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist for 2025-27 as a member of the Astatine Trio, her performances are regularly broadcast on British national radio as well as SWR Kultur and RTV Slovenia. The upcoming season sees repeat performances at Wigmore Hall and Snape Maltings, debuts at Elbphilharmonie’s Laeiszhalle and Ettlingen Schlosskonzerte, and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo.
A recipient of the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Piano Scholarship in 2024, she has been awarded numerous other national and international prizes. Solo competition successes led to concerto performances of the Grieg Piano Concerto as part of the Brighton Festival, and Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2 with the Worthing Philharmonic. Berniya was selected as a Tabor Piano Ambassador for the 2021 Leeds International Piano Competition, representing the Royal College of Music, and continues to work with the competition to deliver education and outreach initiatives.
She is a founding member of the Astatine Piano Trio, BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist for 2025–27. The trio has been internationally recognised in many competitions and performs widely across the globe. From 2022-25 they were mentored by Alfred Brendel, at his personal invitation.
An incredibly versatile musician, she is also an accomplished cellist – from 2021-24 she was cellist of the Fiora Quartet. 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. They worked and collaborated with the Brodsky Quartet, 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. Berniya has also sat as principal cellist of the RCM Philharmonic.
Berniya is currently undertaking an Advanced Artist Diploma at the Guildhall School as a Headley Trust Scholar, and throughout her studies has been supported by awards from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, Help Musicians UK, Wayne Sleep Foundation and Craxton Memorial Trust. She previously studied piano and cello jointly at the RCM as a full scholar under Dina Parakhina and Hélène Dautry.
Berniya is grateful for the support of the Westdene Fund and Maggie Grimsdell (Music at Longhill Road).