Thomas Hecht

Appointed Fall 2026

Renowned American pianist and pedagogue Thomas Hecht was the founding head of keyboard studies and the Madeline Goh Professor of Piano at the Yong Siew Toh (YST) Conservatory in Singapore and has recently relocated back to his native Baltimore. Over the span of three decades he has appeared on five continents as concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. He was also a member of the internationally acclaimed duo-piano team of Hecht & Shapiro, winners of the Munich International Two Piano Competition, USA National Duo Piano Competition and Peabody’s coveted Young Maestro Award which honors distinguished alumni for their performing careers. He was the former head of Piano Studies and artist-in-residence at Victoria University in New Zealand, and prior to that served as professor of piano & artist-in-residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music. During his graduate studies at Peabody he also became the first teaching assistant to his beloved mentor, the late Leon Fleisher.

Dr. Hecht has performed in many of the world's cultural centers, appearing with leading orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Stuttgart Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Johannesburg Festival Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Artsakh Symphony Orchestra and New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Career highlights include performances at the Lincoln Center in New York, Berlin Philharmonic Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington and solo recitals in Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Italy, Serbia, Montenegro, Germany, South Africa, and throughout all the major centers of Australia and New Zealand. He performed well over a dozen concerti while living overseas, including the Asian premiere of Thomas Ades’ Concerto Conciso.

Hecht enjoys a well-deserved reputation as one of the leading teachers of his generation, having produced a multitude of first prizewinners in solo and two piano competitions throughout the United States, Europe and Australasia. He has given masterclasses at renowned institutions such as the Royal Academy, Royal Northern and Royal Welsh Colleges of Music, as well as at the Paris, Eastman, Oberlin, Peabody, Sydney, Beijing and Sichuan Conservatories. Guest residency invitations have included the Conservatoire de Paris, Sibelius Academy, Guildhall College of Music & Drama, the University of Trossingen and the Western Australia Academy for the Performing Arts. His highly sought after piano classes have produced concerto soloists with the Singapore, New Zealand, Christchurch, Lamont, Lima, Kaunas, Peabody and Artsakh Symphony Orchestras, the Cleveland, Philippines, Singapore and Dnepropetrovsk Philharmonic Orchestras, the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, the Melbourne and Wellington Youth Orchestras and the Auckland Philharmonia. Two of his Singaporean protégés have been named Young Steinway Artists.

Dr. Hecht receives regular invitations to summer piano festivals, including performances in Sydney, Beijing, Wellington, Lausanne, Chethams, Taichung, Bavaria, Artsakh and Brasov (where he is honorary professor of piano at the University of Transylvania), and continues to be in demand for workshops and pedagogy conferences throughout the world. He also currently coaches piano duos to great success at the Peabody Institute, where his pupils recently won 1st & 2nd Prizes in the 2024 and 2026 MTNA Stecher & Horowitz National Two Piano Competition, respectively.

This past season he was featured convention artist and master class teacher for the Maryland State Music Teachers Association and appeared in guest recitals at the Oberlin Conservatory and University of Maryland College Park, where was appointed to the piano faculty in 2026.

Thomas Hecht is a Steinway Artist. Recordings on the Master Performers, Delos, Azica, Elysium & Atoll Labels.