Tom Hammond-Davies

Tom Hammond-Davies is an award-winning choral conductor living in Oxford. He graduated from the University of Oxford where he read music as an Organ Scholar at Hertford College. He later attended the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire where he studied choral conducting with Paul Spicer, director of the Finzi Singers and the Bach Choir in Birmingham. It was at the Conservatoire where he was awarded the Sir Michael Beech Conducting prize and the Three Choirs Festival award.

Since then, Tom has carved out a unique space in choral conducting. He founded the Blenheim Singers in 2006 and led the ensemble in the annual performance of Handel’s Messiah at Blenheim Palace between 2006 and 2010. Since then, this peripatetic ensemble has performed annually in Bavaria and Alsace, emphasising the importance of cultural dialogue within Blenheim Palace’s UNESCO World Heritage status, cultivating international relationships for over a decade.

In 2013, Tom joined the Wooburn Singers as Musical Director, following in the footsteps of Stephen Jackson and founder Richard Hickox. Based in Beaconsfield, the Wooburn Singers is an auditioned chamber choir of about 50 singers performing five concerts each year, ranging from a cappella works to large choral pieces with orchestra. They recently performed Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, The Armed Man by Karl Jenkins, and J. S. Bach’s B Minor Mass.

Tom went on to found the Oxford Bach Soloists in 2017, the year of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. This pioneering project has set out to perform the complete vocal works of J. S. Bach in chronological sequence, programmed in real-time, and in the context in which they were received. Tom is the Artistic Director leading the Baroque ensemble and singers in performances that have captured the imagination of all who witness their monthly concerts. This has led to a committed supporter base that recently funded twelve Choral Scholarships.