Pianist Tom Borrow wins Terence Judd-Hallé Award

The Hallé has today revealed Israeli pianist Tom Borrow as the winner of this year’s Terence Judd-Hallé Award. As well as a cash prize of £7,000, Borrow will also receive professional development support to help develop his career and will make his Hallé debut in February 2024.

Run in partnership with the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists (NGA) scheme, the award is given each year to a young pianist approaching the end of the scheme each year. The winner is selected by the BBC. As part of his win, Borrow is guaranteed at least one concerto performance with the Hallé, plus a chamber recital with Hallé musicians at the Manchester-based orchestra’s Hallé St Peter’s venue and a solo recital as part of the Manchester Mid-Day Concert Series.

BBC Radio 3 controller Sam Jackson said: ‘The BBC’s relationship with the Hallé is extremely important to us, and we’re absolutely delighted that our BBC New Generation Artist Tom Borrow is to be the next recipient of this prestigious award, taking up the baton from Alexander Gadjiev. It’s such a brilliant opportunity for our NGA pianists to perform with an orchestra of the Hallé’s stature, and form what we hope will be long-lasting and fruitful associations with audiences – not just in Manchester but around the UK.’

The Terence Judd-Hallé Award honours the work and life of Terence Judd, who died in 1979 at the age of 22. The award has been presented in association with the Hallé since 1982, and was relaunched in 2021 in partnership with the BBC Radio 3 NGA scheme.

Born in Tel Aviv in 2000, Borrow began studying piano aged five at the Givatayim Music Conservatory, before moving on to study a the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University. Having won every national piano competition in Israel, Borrow’s career took off when he replaced Khatia Buniatishvili in a series of 12 concerts with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in 2019. He made his BBC Proms debut in 2022 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Borrow said: ‘I am so thrilled and honoured to receive the Terence Judd-Hallé Award. All the more since this award is in memory of a truly distinguished pianist whose ideals I hope to live up to, and is given by an orchestra whose reputation for superb musicianship is known internationally. And what could be better than to have the opportunity to play with the Hallé at The Bridgewater Hall, in chamber music with its musicians, and even in a recital at the Manchester Mid-Day Concert Series? There could be nothing more encouraging to a young pianist than all of this, and I feel very thankful and, again, deeply honoured’.