Tom Harrold
*10 April 1991
Works by Tom Harrold
Biography
Scottish composer Tom Harrold’s music has been aired internationally at venues which include the Royal Albert, Berlin Philharmonic, Cadogan, Queen Elizabeth, Wigmore, Liverpool Philharmonic and Bridgewater Halls, Maison Symphonique de Montréal, Kings Place, Purcell Room, Birmingham Hippodrome, Sadler’s Wells, and St John’s Smith Square. His recent output includes a 30-minute ballet, co-commissioned by Birmingham Royal Ballet and Queensland Ballet (Australia), which was premiered in 2019 and is due to be premiered in Queensland in 2023. Other recent works include To the Light (2017) for Joseph Swensen and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Raze (2016), which opened the Last Night of the Proms, and Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra (2019) for Emma McPhilemy and the BBC Philharmonic. His work Nightfires (2016), a BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra commission, was “among the most exciting pieces by a Scottish composer in the last 25 years.” [Herald]. Tom is an Associate Member of the Royal Northern College of Music, which is his alma mater.
About the music
Tom Harrold is a 30-year-old Scottish composer making a name for himself as a new, dynamic and individual voice, with many performances in the UK and abroad. His output includes pieces for orchestras, chamber ensembles, brass bands, wind orchestras, string quartets, choirs, and distinguished soloists (most recently, the percussionist Colin Currie). Harrold often writes music which is rhythmically charged and muscular; it’s usually devoid of a prescriptive narrative, but always has some ‘ways in’ for the listener to glean some sort of story (however abstract) from the piece.
