Tom Coult (born 1988) is a composer from London, whose playful and seductive music has been championed by many of the UK’s major orchestras, ensembles, and soloists.

Recent projects include debut chamber opera Violet¸ with a text by Alice Birch, debuted at the Aldeburgh Festival in 2022 and subsequently toured the UK to acclaim. It has since received new productions at the Theater Ulm and from L'Aurore Boréale in Paris, directed by Jacques Osinski. Violin concerto Pleasure Garden (2020, rev. 2023) premiered with Daniel Pioro and Elena Schwarz in 2021 - the first of several pieces for the BBC Philharmonic written as part of Coult’s residency with them. It was succeeded by Three Pieces that Disappear (premiered at the Bridgewater Hall by Nicholas Collon in 2023) and After Lassus (2023) for soprano Anna Dennis, conducted by Andrew Gourlay, who also premiered Coult’s Sonnet Machine with the orchestra in 2015. 

Other acclaimed large-scale works include Beautiful Caged Thing for soprano Claire Booth and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and St John’s Dance (whose premier, from Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, opened the First Night of the 2017 BBC Proms). Coult has also enjoyed associations with Britten Sinfonia and London Sinfonietta (who premiered Spirit of the Staircase and Violet - both nominated for a South Bank Sky Arts Awards). Coult’s work has also been performed by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras.

His chamber works have received performances by ensembles including Arditti Quartet, Psappha, Fidelio Trio, Riot Ensemble and musicians from the Philharmonia Orchestra. In 2022 Coult was composer-in-residence at Musikdorf Ernen, which saw the premiere of his horn trio Two Nocturnes and a Maze from Alec Frank-Gemmill, Daniel Bard, and Alasdair Beatson. In 2024 the Adelphi Quartet commissioned and premiered his String Quartet No.2 at the Lucerne Festival. In 2024 Coult collaborated again with Daniel Pioro for the world premiere of O Ecclesia, O Euchari and Hymns of Kassiana - reimaginings of music by Hildegard von Bingen and Byzantine composer Kassia for violin and voices - with the Marian Consort at the Aldeburgh Festival. 

Coult studied at the University of Manchester with Camden Reeves and Philip Grange and at King’s College London with George Benjamin. In 2017 he was Fellow Commoner in the Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge. He has also taught on the Britten Sinfonia Academy composition course and with Aldeburgh Young Musicians. Awards include the Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund Prize and, Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize, and the Critics’ Circle Award for Young Composer.