Tom Williams is a freelance choral conductor based in London. He has been the Musical Director of Nailsea Choral Society since 2012, and is Director of Music at St Matthew’s, Kensington Olympia, where he heads up a newly established music foundation comprising several choirs. For six years he was the Choral Director at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, where he conducted the renowned choir in services, concerts and broadcasts, and on several international tours.
Tom read Music at the University of Bristol and continued to postgraduate level researching the performance practice of Early Music, and in particular the Magnificat settings of Franco-Flemish Renaissance composer, Nicolas Gombert. Since leaving Bristol he has been most active as a choral conductor and has gained particular recognition for his interpretation of the music of the Renaissance period. He is in much demand as a workshop leader and has in recent times led workshops for the Clifton International Festival of Music, London Three Choirs Festival and for groups of choral enthusiasts in Holland and France. He frequently gives lectures on a variety of musical subjects ranging from the Eton Choirbook, music of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, and the Tintinnabuli style of modern minimalist composer Arvo Pärt.
In 2012, Tom founded award-winning chamber choir, The Erebus Ensemble, with whom he has appeared on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and Scala Radio, and in concerts across the UK and Europe. The group was Ensemble-in-Residence at the Bristol Proms (Bristol Old Vic Theatre) and a prize winner at the inaugural London International Acappella Choir Competition at St John’s Smith Square.
Alongside a busy performing schedule, Tom is Artistic Director of the Clifton International Festival of Music.