British conductor Mikel Toms has worked with many orchestras and ensembles including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Scottish National 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 national contemporary music ensemble). From 2019 to 2023 he served as Resident Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of India in Mumbai.
He has recorded over 50 CDs for labels including Sony BMG (the world premiere recording of Philip Glass’s Saxophone Concerto), Decca, Métier, Quartz and ABLAZE. As a broadcaster, he recently appeared in the three-part BBC FOUR television series Romance and Revolution – Musical Masters of the 19th Century.
“Describing the performance of both works by the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Mikel Toms requires a word that goes further than “stunning”: the music is played with utmost virtuosity and total conviction.” MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL
Mikel 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 100 new works for orchestra and has collaborated with major composers including Iannis Xenakis, James Dillon, Michael Finnissy and Karlheinz Stockhausen.
He has conducted for BBC Radio 3’s Hear and Now programme, broadcast on Italian, German, Spanish, American and Irish radio, and has appeared at festivals in London, Bath, Cheltenham, Huddersfield, Belfast, Darmstadt, Innsbruck, Sligo, Almaty, Valencia, Dortmund and Berlin.
“All credit to the virtuosity of the Brno Philharmonic and the expert ear of their conductor, Mikel Toms, for delivering such a razor-sharp performance. A fascinating disc.” FANFARE MAGAZINE
Mikel 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.
Mikel is also well-known as a writer about classical music. In addition to his well-known conducting blog, his writing has appeared in The Times, the BBC Music Magazine and other publications. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts.