Composer-Pianist Thomas Nickell To Return To Tenri Cultural Institute For Solo Piano Recital
The evenings will feature works by Janáček, Debussy, and more.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Feb. 19, 2026
American composer/pianist Thomas Nickell will continue his 2025/26 season with a solo piano recital at New York City's Tenri Cultural Institute, Friday evening, March 20, 2026 at 7:00 p.m. EST. General admission of $50 and student/senior tickets of $25 can be purchased now.
The full program follows:
Leoš Janáček, Selections from On an Overgrown Path
Our Evenings
A Blown Away Leaf
Come With Us
The Madonna of Frydek
Thomas Nickell, Piano Sonata No. 4
Claude Debussy, Images, Book 1
Reflets dans l'eau
Hommage à Rameau
Mouvement
~Intermission~
Jean Sibelius, Sonatina No. 2 in E Major
Lento - Allegro
Andantino
Lento - Allegretto
César Franck, Prelude, Aria, and Finale
As a pianist, Mr. Nickell has given many highly lauded public performances of important works by Bach, Beethoven, Berg, Gershwin, Khachaturian, Liszt, David Matthews, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, as well as his own compositions.
2022, he launched an ongoing solo recital series at the Tenri Cultural Institute in New York City. Increasingly devoting his time to composition and to collaborative efforts, Mr. Nickell continues his role as Curator of the "Avant Garden" series as part of the Oistrakh Symphony of Chicago under the direction of Music Director Mina Zikri. This season, Mr. Nickell will also see a new collaborative composition, Aftertime, (co-composed with Fiona Stocks-Lyons) performed by the Pacific Northwest Ballet in a new production choreographed by Christopher D'Ariano and Amanda Morgan. Over the recent years, he has created Sarabande for solo piano (2023); Leaks for Solo Percussion and Tape (2020); Horizons for 8 Double Basses and Sine Waves (2020); Tribute (after Julius Eastman) for Solo Piano (2020); Untitled for Retuned Digital Keyboard (2020); The Falling Sun for Electronic Sounds (2020); Unstuck in Time for Orchestra (2019-20); Music for Ensemble for at least 4 players (2019-20); String Quartet in No. 2,"Heliopause," selected for JACK Quartet Readings at Mannes (2019); Spires of Form for Voice and Piano, a work co-composed with American soprano Denise Young which was premiered at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall (2019); Piano Trio for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano (2019), Intercalendrical Zone for Piano (2019), and Prelude and Constellated Night for Piano (2019).
As pianist, Mr. Nickell has appeared frequently as guest soloist in Chicago with the Oistrakh Symphony and with the Northbrook Symphony under the baton of conductor Mina Zikri. He performed J.S. Bach's Concerto No. 1 in D Minor and Alfred Schnittke's Concerto for Piano and Strings in Chicago and at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall in June 2019. The New York concert included an original Nickell composition for solo piano, entitled "On a Windy Night." Mr. Nickell also appeared with the Oistrakh Symphony in his Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall debut, June 2018, for a performance of Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto, Liszt's Totentanz, and giving the world premiere of his own composition, Innisfree.
Mr. Nickell holds double bachelor of music degrees from the New School, Mannes College of Music-a B.M. in piano, having studied with J Y Song, and a B.M. in composition under the tutelage of composer David T. Little. Mr. Nickell, who makes his home in New York City, likes to paint in his spare time and enjoys photography, the occasional foray into writing, and reading non-fiction, especially about composers.
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