Thomas Ryskamp

Tom Ryskamp is a pianist with wide interests and a broad range of experience that includes solo piano, art song, chamber music, and musical theatre. In 2019, he received his Bachelor of Arts from Hillsdale College, double-majoring in piano performance and accounting. His previous teachers include Brad Blackham, Andrew Le, and Jeanne Hanley Thelen.

Originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Tom won or placed in many piano competitions throughout Grand Rapids and the state of Michigan, including receiving the highest score in the Grand Rapids area on the Michigan Music Teachers Association Student Achievement Test for 6 consecutive years and advancing to the state finals in each of those years. At Hillsdale, he also distinguished himself in his piano studies. In 2018, he was selected as one of the winners of the Hillsdale College Concerto/Aria Competition and performed the first movement of Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto with the Hillsdale College Symphony Orchestra. Tom has received instruction in masterclasses from many distinguished artists, including Douglas Humpherys, Christos Tsitsaros, Frank Glazer, Reid Alexander, Anthony DeMare, and Ralph Votapek.

Tom also has diversity of experience as a collaborator. He has served as rehearsal, show, and/or pit keyboardist for five musicals. Also a proficient percussionist, he has played both percussion and keyboard parts in the Hillsdale Wind Symphony and the Hillsdale College Symphony Orchestra. In 2018, while at Brevard Music Center, Tom played several substantial keyboard parts in their orchestras, including the full film score to West Side Story, Leonard Bernstein’s Fancy Free, and the rock and blues keyboard parts to Bernstein’s Mass, the latter two being conducted by Maestro Keith Lockhart. Having a long background of both singing in choirs and playing for them, he has served as the pianist for the summer camp of the Grand Rapids Choir of Men and Boys and for a recent performance of the Cincinnati Boychoir.

Tom is currently in the Master of Music program in Collaborative Piano at CCM, where he studies with Kenneth Griffiths and Awadagin Pratt.