Thomas
Charles Marshall is from Portlaoise, Ireland.
He studied classical music from
childhood at the Royal Irish Academy of Music and the Schola Cantorum
at St. Finian's College, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath learning piano, flute
and later pipe organ.
From 1991 to 1994, he was organ scholar at
Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, and read the music tripos.
His first contact
with the Satsumabiwa was in 1994 when he met the biwa master Yoshinori
Fumon while working for a year in Japan. He decided to remain in Japan
and studied with Fumon until the Fumon's death at the age of 92 in
2003. Marshall has performed biwa both within Japan and abroad.
In September 2008. Marshall returned to Ireland to continue pipe organ studies. He is doing a Masters in Music Performance at the Royal Irish Academy with David Adams. His dissertation is focused on the biwa and he is currently researching the development of the satsuma biwa notational system at the turn of the last century.
He is Director of Music at St. Ann's Church, Dawson Street, Dublin.