Michael Thompson
Brass

‘Thompson is not only technically brilliant, but plays with delectable lightness and point, bringing out wit in finales, as well as the tenderness in slow movements.’ The Gramophone.

Mike Thompson is internationally acknowledged as one of the world’s leading horn players. After studies at the Royal Academy of Music, he was appointed principal horn with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the age of eighteen. Within three years he was offered the principal horn positions of both the Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras. He joined the Philharmonia and remained in that post for ten years before leaving to concentrate on his solo and chamber music career.

His concert schedule takes him worldwide and his discography includes all the major classical and romantic horn repertoire, period instrument recordings and many works by contemporary composers. As a member of the London Sinfonietta he is at the forefront of new music and has given a number of premieres including, most recently, Ligeti’s “Hamburg Concerto”. He has made a number of critically acclaimed recordings with the Michael Thompson Wind Quintet and Michael Thompson Horn Quartet, and he directs the recently founded Royal Academy Wind Soloists and the TransAtlantic Horn Quartet.

Michael Thompson is Professor of Horn at the Royal Academy of Music and gives regular master-classes and lectures throughout the world. He plays on an instrument made by Paxman of London.