D.M.A. University of Kansas; MMus Cardiff University School of Music; BMus(hons) Cardiff University School of Music; Diploma of Higher Education in Performance Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
Tom Davoren (b1986) is a conductor and composer with an international reputation in wind music.
As a conductor of brass bands Tom began his career with the BTM Band in Wales, later holding positions with the famous Desford Colliery and Fairey Bands. With his own band, Filton, he won titles including the first section National Brass Band Championship of Great Britain in 2014, British Open Senior Trophy in 2016, and British Open Senior Cup in 2017. He served as conductor of the National Youth Brass Band of Wales in 2016 and taught conducting and directed bands at the University of Salford from 2015 - 2019. Tom is currently Professional Conductor to Tokyo City Concert Brass in Japan.
In the wind band world Tom currently serves as Director of Bands / Assistant Professor of Music at Benedictine College, Kansas, USA. He has presented at conferences including the Kansas Music Educators and Bandmasters associations, International Society for the Research and Promotion of Wind Music, and World Association of Symphonic Bands and Wind Ensembles (WASBE) International Conference. As a guest conductor he has appeared with collegiate and honor bands across the USA, as well as bands in Austria, Canada, Japan, Lithuania, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, and South Korea.
Tom is a respected adjudicator in the band world having presided over the elite level national band championships of Great Britain, Switzerland, and New Zealand, the U.S. Open Championship, Whit Friday marches, as well as the Yorkshire and Scotland Regional Championships.
As a composer Tom’s music is commissioned and played wherever bands are in the world by artists including the Central Band of the Royal Air Force, ‘The President’s Own’ United States Marine Band, Brass Band of Battle Creek, and soloists Jens Lindemann, Hiram Diaz, and Glenn Van Looy. Highlights include performances at the American Bandmasters Association Convention, Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, CBDNA National and Regional Conferences, WASBE, World Music Contest Kerkrade, Royal Northern College of Music Festival of Brass, Carnegie Hall in New York, and the national band championships of many nations. In 2019 Tom, a proud Welshman, was delighted to became composer in residence with the Band of the Welsh Guards, of the Household Division of the Royal Corps of Army Music.
Away from traditional band repertoire Tom composed a fanfare for the Royal opening of the fifth National Assembly for Wales in 2016. His work 'Legacy', commissioned by Tredegar Town Band and the Aneurin Bevan Society, celebrated the 70th Anniversary of the British National Health Service through a performance at Westminster Palace, the House of the British Parliament. His first work for orchestra, 'Tourbillon', was premiered by Denmark's Aalborg Symfoniorkester in 2017.
Tom studied tuba with Nigel Seaman at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and holds Bachelors and Postgraduate degrees in composition from Cardiff University School of Music. He completed a Doctoral degree in wind conducting at the University of Kansas, studying with Paul W. Popiel. In 2009 he was awarded a research scholarship from the British Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Welsh Livery Guild Composition Award. He was a BASCA British Composer Awards finalist in 2011, a prizewinner at the EBBA European Composers Competition in 2012, winner of the ITEA Harvey Phillips Award for Excellence in Composition in 2012, and winner of the National Band Association Merrill Jones Composition Prize in 2020 for his work, ‘A Midwestern Suite’.