Tom Newall, Conductor

British conductor Tom Newall has established a successful freelance career in the UK, and his works spans a wide variety of genres and styles.

Tom has been Music Director of Salford Choral Society since 2016 and Congleton Choral Society since 2021. With them he has conducted many works from the choral repertoire, including Carmina Burana, Mozart Mass in C minor, Verdi Requiem, Poulenc Gloria, Elgar The Music Makers, Messiah, and Dominic Muldowney’s The Fall of Jerusalem. Tom is currently working on a new choral piece for the choir, The Gardener, by Lucy Armstrong and Rebecca Hurst. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Tom and the choir produced an entire season of rehearsals and six concerts virtually, ending with an extensive ‘park sing’ project in the Summer of 2021. Tom has previously held the Music Director post at Blackburn Music Society with Mendelssohn Elijah, Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony, and Walton Belshazzar’s Feast being some of the highlights. Tom has regularly guest conducted Ilkley and Otley Choral Societies and gave a performance of Haydn Creation to critical acclaim in November 2019.

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Tom founded Piccadilly Symphony Orchestra in 2014 to give young professional musicians experience in a high-quality ensemble, helping to bridge the gap between a player’s studies and professional orchestras. The orchestra has established a busy schedule, with large-scale Symphony Orchestra projects at its community hub in Harpurhey in North Manchester.

As an orchestral conductor, Tom also works regularly as a guest conductor with many orchestras in the north, including students at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) and Leeds Conservatoire, Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra, Bolton Symphony Orchestra and Wilmslow Symphony Orchestra. He is also the conductor for the ‘Young Explorers’ concert series for the RNCM.

Tom also has a particular passion for Opera. In Summer 2018, he made his debut at Buxton International Festival conducting The Orphans of Koombu. Other recent highlights have included Macbeth, La Bohème, The Magic Flute, A Masked Ball and The Turn of the Screw with Leeds Youth Opera, Cosi fan Tutte with Flatpack Music, Die Fledermaus with Fulham Opera and two premieres with Manchester Opera Project.

Tom is very dedicated to music education and has worked on a number of outreach projects for Blackburn Cathedral and Opera North.

Highlights of the 2021/22 season include The Planets and Haydn Symphony No. 99 with Wilmslow Symphony Orchestra, Haydn Creation, Vivaldi Gloria, and the world premiere of The Gardener with Salford Choral Society, and a newly commissioned opera-oratorio Our Future in Your Hands by Kate Whitley and Laura Attridge for Buxton International Festival. He is currently working on a number of community-based composition projects with Piccadilly Symphony Orchestra.