Ambre Hammond
Ambre Hammond (born 1977 in Cairns) is an Australian classical pianist.
Ambre Hammond was taught to play the piano by her mother Carolyn Hammond from the age of 3. She gave her first concert at the age of 5. In 1989 Hammond achieved a world record when she was awarded her AMEB Associate and Licentiate Diplomas of music, both in the same year at 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 Orquesta Sinfonica De Córdoba where her performance of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 was recorded live. Hammond also recorded a CD titled Devotion - Piano works of Franz Liszt at age 16, including Réminiscences de Norma (Bellini), Mephisto Waltz No. 1, Après une lecture de Dante and Wilde Jagd.
Hammond has performed both solo and with orchestras in Australia, East Timor, Thailand, India, Europe (England, Italy, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Belarus), North America and South America. She has performed with the SBS Youth Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Metropolitan Orchestra, the Fribourg Youth Orchestra and the Orchestra of the City in London.
In 2009 a CD of music by various classical composers titled 'Reverie' was released (recorded at James Morrison Studios).
Lalo Schifrin, a renowned Hollywood film score writer has composed a double concerto for Ambre Hammond and trumpeter James Morrison which was premiered on 19 July 2007 at the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney Symphony; the concert was later broadcast on ABC Television.
Together with accordion virtuoso Marcello Maio, Ambre released 'Oblivion' - music of Astor Piazzolla in 2012. "The ultimate seduction album" John Shand (The Sydney Morning Herald).
Ambre is the founder and presenter of GIRL PIANO TRUCK. A worldwide project involving travel with a piano or keyboard giving concerts in schools and orphanages in underprivileged and remote areas. The project was launched in 2013 when Ambre travelled and performed throughout India, East Timor, Thailand and Belarus.
During her tour with James Morrison, John Morrison & His Trio, Emma Pask and Ian Cooper for the Queensland Music Festival during July 2015, Ambre played Fantasy on a Mozart Theme, Hungarian Rhapsody and in the premiere of Matthew Dewey's 'Symphony of the Inland Sea' with the Mount Isa Symphony Orchestra, the Mount Isa Community Choir & Combined Schools Choir.
