“…a serious contender for most promising maestro of his generation.”
Musical Opinion, 2017
A dynamic, award-winning conductor known for his exciting and thoughtful programming and broad repertoire, Tom Hammond is equally at home working with top-flight international artists or conducting leading non-professional and youth orchestras. Tom also regularly visits the Middle East to conduct ensembles from the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, Palestine.
Recent collaborators include pianist Stephen Hough, clarinetist Emma Johnson, cellists Steven Isserlis and Matthew Sharp, and violinist Ray Chen. This season Tom will be performing with celebrated violinists Tamsin Waley-Cohen, Chloë Hanslip and David Le Page, French horn player Ben Goldscheider, soprano Susana Gaspar and mezzo soprano Emma Stannard, and he is also forging an exciting relationship with Stratford- upon-Avon based Orchestra of the Swan.
Tom received mentorship from the late Sir Charles Mackerras, and has given many premières of new music by, amongst others, Matthew Taylor, James Francis Brown and Bernard Hughes. A CD of world première recordings of music for families, conducted by Tom with Orchestra of the Swan and narrated by Alexander Armstrong, will be released on the Orchid Classics label in February 2020, with music by Hughes, Judith Weir, Sir Malcolm Arnold and John Ireland.
A champion of music-making outside the capital, Tom is Co-Artistic Director and founder of the Hertfordshire Festival of Music. Launched in 2016, it has rapidly grown to become one of the leading celebrations of classical music in the UK, featuring major artists and ensembles alongside innovative outreach work, and winning major support from Arts Council England.
Tom’s work as a producer with Chiaro Audio has led to releases with Resonus Classics and First Hand Records, and forthcoming releases with Edition Peters Label. He was appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2010, and Conductor Emeritus of London’s Sinfonia Tamesa in 2019.
(Tom Hammond, August 2019)
ERSO 