The Conductor
The Brunel Sinfonia's conductor and co-founder is Tom Gauterin.
Tom Gauterin was born in 1980 and read English at Jesus College, Oxford, during which time he was heavily involved in the University’s music scene. Since leaving, he has conducted The Magic Flute at the Apollo Theatre and been praised in the press for a “rocket powered” Beethoven Eroica Symphony and his “authority and flair” in works by Elgar and Dvorak. In 2004 he directed the New English Sinfonia at St. John’s, Smith Square, in a programme of Beethoven, Ravel and Stravinsky and, later that year, he cofounded the Brunel Sinfonia which has fast established itself as one of the most innovative and popular Bristol orchestras.
Although largely self-taught, Tom participated in Martyn Brabbins's conducting masterclass at the 2005 Cheltenham Festival. He was invited to conduct the European Medical Students' Orchestra on their 2006 UK tour, which included concerts in Bristol, Bath and Oxford and which featured Ralph Vaughan Williams's A London Symphony. He has recently received conducting lessons from Marin Alsop and Alexander Shelley. This year, he is conducting the Bristol Classical Players in a cycle of all nine Beethoven symphonies, culminating in the 9th at Colston Hall with the Brunel Sinfonia in June. Tom’s musical interests are wide, although his area of special interest is English music from the first half of the twentieth century, notably Vaughan Williams, Elgar, Finzi and Bax. Away from music, Tom is a solicitor specialising in charities, tax and trusts and might otherwise be found hunting down a decent pint of real ale or honing his gardening skills.
