News

Posted on 16 Jun 2023

L'Aurore Boréale's production of Violet, my opera written with writer Alice Birch, is getting three performances at Paris' Festival Bruit next week (23-25 June) at Theâtre de l’Aquarium. The production was first shown at École Normale Supérieure Paris Saclay, directed by Jacques Osinski with Bianca Chillemi conducting Ensemble Maja. The cast is: Juliette Allen (soprano – Violet), Olivier Gourdy (baritone –...

Posted on 31 May 2023

I have been awarded the Critics' Circle Award for Young Composer for 2022. Their citation read: Tom Coult is a storyteller in sound with an ear that makes good on the promise of his titles: I Find Planets, for example, Beautiful Caged Thing and Inventions (for Heath Robinson). All the same, his 2018 String Quartet shows that he doesn’t need an off-the-wall title or idea to...

Posted on 05 May 2023

Violet, my opera with Alice Birch, was given its French premiere last month by the L'Aurore Boréale company with three dates at ENS Paris-Saclay, in a production by Jacques Osinski. They're doing three dates in June at Paris' Theâtre de l'Aquarium, but before that, here are some photos… The cast was soprano Juliette Allen as Violet, baritone Olivier Gourdy as Felix, mezzo...

Posted on 26 Apr 2023

Violet, my opera with Alice Birch, is being featured in a show of contemporary opera scenes by the National Opera Studio in Leeds and London, directed by Olivia Fuchs. Sarah Seunghwa Chae (as Violet) & Laura Fleur (as Laura) will sing Day 20, one of the final scenes of the opera, with members of Orchestra of Opera North conducted by Garry...

Posted on 21 Apr 2023

Having given the world premiere of Three Pieces that Disappear, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra are in the studio next week with soprano Anna Dennis to record a programme I've devised, for a live Radio 3 broadcast on 28 April. The pieces are all about mirrors and portraits – Britten's Two Portraits and Beautiful Caged Thing, my take on Oscar Wilde's The Picture...

Posted on 10 Apr 2023

Violet, my opera written with writer Alice Birch, is receiving its French premiere in Paris on 19 April, in what will be its third production, directed by Jacques Osinski, with the L'Aurore Boréale company. Bianca Chillemi will conduct Ensemble Maja. The cast is: Juliette Allen (soprano – Violet), Olivier Gourdy (baritone – Felix), Natalie Perez (mezzo soprano – Laura), Manuel Nunez...

Posted on 22 Mar 2023

The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Nicholas Collon, are premiering Three Pieces that Disappear on the 1 April at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall – the second of my three major pieces as their Composer-in-Association. Also in the concert are Berg's Seven Early Songs (with soprano Francesca Chiejina) and Richard Strauss' An Alpine Symphony. You can hear the broadcast of the concert on BBC...

Posted on 13 Feb 2023

March will see the premiere of a new piece for music education charity Music Masters at London's Wigmore Hall – they've commissioned ten composers to work with primary school-age students on a new piece for beginner/intermediate string ensemble. I ran a workshop at Jubilee Primary School near Brixton where I worked with nine- and ten-year olds, gathering material generated by them...

Posted on 13 Jan 2023

Violinist Daniel Pioro's new album, Saint Boy, is out today on Platoon, and it features a recording of my arrangement of Hildegard of Bingen's O Ecclesia. The arrangement was originally written in 2021 for solo violin and string orchestra, but on Saint Boy is adapted for violin and chamber organ (played by Kat Tinker). Also on the album are works by Tartini,...