Tommy Tycho

Thomas Tycho AM MBE DMus (11 April 1928 – 4 April 2013) was Hungarian-born Australian pianist, conductor, composer and arranger. He was active in both classical music and pop.

He was associated with musical productions on Australian television for many years from its inception in 1956, including such programs as The Mavis Bramston Show. The recorded version of the National Anthem Advance Australia Fair that is now usually used to accompany singers at major sporting and community events is Tommy Tycho's arrangement. He wrote a number of film scores, and his activities bridged both popular and classical styles. Tycho was born in Budapest in April 1928. His father was a senior government official and his mother was an opera singer who had retired to raise a family. His musical life started as a child prodigy pianist. He played George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra at age 10. He had been introduced to the work by his teacher, Egon Petri. He commenced studying at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where his teachers included Leo Weiner and Zoltán Kodály. He and his parents had adopted Lutheranism in an attempt to disguise their Jewishness, but to no avail – he was interned in a German forced labour camp in 1943 at age 15, and was lucky to survive. He resumed his studies after the war, but fled his country ahead of the Communist takeover while still only in his third year of study. From 1948 to 1951 he lived in Iran, where he was the personal pianist for the Shah of Iran. There he met a Hungarian soprano named Eva Komer, who became his wife. They emigrated to Australia in 1951.

He was Musical Director at the Seven Network for 15 years, 1956–1971, was involved in nine Royal Command Performances, and has conducted all the ABC symphony orchestras. His work was an important element of many official openings (Sydney Opera House, Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney Football Stadium, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane 1982 Commonwealth Games, World Expo 88, Darling Harbour, major sporting grand finals, etc.). In 2008 he performed at the piano for Crown Princess Mary of Denmark at the opening of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute. (In 1980, after a heart attack, he had been treated personally by Dr Victor Chang.)The Australian artists with whom he worked include Peter Allen, Ricky May, Olivia Newton-John, Julie Anthony, John Farnham, Anthony Warlow, Jill Perryman, Barry Crocker, Kamahl, James Morrison, David Campbell, Judi Connelli, violinist Ian Cooper, Suzanne Johnstone, Jackie Love, James Blundell, Don Burrows, Andy Firth, Marina Prior, Rob Guest, Jimmy Little, Tommy Emmanuel, Normie Rowe, Rhonda Burchmore, Ingrid James, Donald Cant and many others. He also worked with overseas performers such as Sammy Davis Jr., Nat King Cole, Shirley Bassey, Louis Armstrong, Jerry Lewis, Frank Sinatra and many others.

Tommy Tycho suffered a serious stroke in 2008. He then lived in a nursing home where he received regular therapy; though his left side was paralysed, he would compose and play with his right hand.He died on 4 April 2013, aged 84, just one week before his 85th birthday, as a result of complications associated with pneumonia.