Tom Poster (left), from the U.K., is the 2007 winner of the Scottish International Piano Competition.Jeff McIntosh
The basics The 28-year-old was born in Cambridge, England, and lives in London.
Piano cred Poster started piano lessons at 4. "My parents noticed quite early on that I was rather obsessed if the radio was on or if we went to a friend's house and there were musical instruments there." He's since performed around the world and won first prize at the 2007 Scottish International Piano Competition.
In rehearsal "I've stopped counting," he said. "A lot of days I find I'm playing most of the day; other days I'm not."
Favourite music If forced to choose a single composer, Mozart: "Really whatever I'm playing at the time, if I love it, that sort of becomes my favourite piece," Poster says.
Performance high "The most memorable performances are not necessarily the most obviously prestigious," he said, "In a way I'm as happy playing to a small crowd of appreciative people who have never heard a concert before as I am playing in huge concert halls."
Performance low "Every time I perform there are things that don't go as I hoped," he said, "I can't think of any huge overriding disaster, but there have certainly been performances when I haven't felt in the zone as I wanted to."
If he didn't play piano He'd compose Broadway and West End musicals, act and sing. "I've always loved the idea of being onstage because you kind of escape from the real world."