Mikel Toms

British conductor Mikel Toms has worked with many orchestras and ensembles, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra, Oslo Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, New Prague Sinfonia, Kazakhstan State Symphony Orchestra, Uralsk Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech Film Orchestra and Elision (Australia’s international contemporary music ensemble). From April 2019 he will take up the position of Resident Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of India. He has recorded over 30 CDs for labels including Sony BMG (the world premiere recording of Philip Glass’s Saxophone Concerto), Decca, Métier, Quartz and ABLAZE. He is closely associated with the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra in the Czech Republic with whom he has made over a hundred recordings of contemporary and classical repertoire. He has recorded over 80 new works for orchestra and has collaborated with major composers including Iannis Xenakis, James Dillon, Michael Finnissy, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Harrison Birtwistle.

Toms studied Music at Oxford University, where he conducted a complete performance of Messiaen’s Des Canyons Aux Étoiles... at the age of 20. He also studied with Peter Eötvös as a member of the International Eötvös Institute Foundation and at the Darmstadt Internationales Ferienkurse für Neue Musik where he won the Stipendium Prize for performance. In 1996 he was selected to conduct the Ensemble Modern in a performance of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Mixtur, in collaboration with the composer.