Derek Hamersly began his piano studies at age 8 in Santa Cruz, California. Graduating from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) with University Honors in 2019, he received both a B.F.A. in Piano Performance and a B.S. in Physics. His former instructors include Dr. Susan Bruckner, Dr. Hanna Wu Li, Dr. Dimitri Papadimitriou, and Dr. Christopher Taylor.

At CMU, Derek was keyboardist in chamber groups, voice lessons, musical theater/opera productions, ballet classes, and the CMU wind ensemble. He was also pianist in the CMU Philharmonic’s performance of Stravinsky’s Petrushka. Derek was a finalist in the 2019 CMU Concerto Competition.

In 2020, Derek began a PhD program in Physics at University of California Santa Cruz. Leaving with a M.S. in 2022, he chose instead to pursue collaborative piano as a primary career. Moving to Madison, WI, he served as a freelance accompanist working with UW Madison students, local churches, and a youth choir.

Collaborating with tenor Jason Garcia-Kakuk at Eastman, Derek was a finalist in both the 2025 Friends of Eastman Opera competition and the 2025 Jesse Kneisel German Lieder competition. Derek is pursuing the MM degree in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music at the Eastman School of Music under the guidance of Dr. Andrew Harley. He currently holds graduate assistantships in vocal and instrumental accompanying and orchestral keyboard.