Composing his first symphony at the age of 13, this music savant forfeited the typical advanced classical composer training to write for opera, and elected to come to Los Angeles to compose for film.

Born in Esch-Alzette, Luxembourg, Tom was a mere seven-years-old when his passion and talent for music was first recognized. He was enrolled in the local children’s choral, which was then called “youth choral” because of its teenaged members. One year later, his lessons at the Music Conservatory of Esch-Alzette commenced, and after only three months of solfeggio only, he began to compose his first pieces for piano, choral for two voices and several small instrumental groups. [Solfeggio is the use of the sol-fa syllables to note the tones of the scale, and is used as a singing exercise in which the sol-fa syllables are implemented.]

After beginning piano lessons, he excelled so rapidly in composing that Maestro Pierre Cao, the conductor of the Radio Televisioun Luxembourg (RTL) Symphony Orchestra (now the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg), convinced the director of the conservatory to permit Tom to study harmony before finishing solfeggio. Tom was only 11-years-old.

Two years later, now just 13-years-old, Tom progressed to an almost unheard of plateau in a young composer’s pedagogy—he composed his Symphony No. 1 in E Flat Major, Op. 9. Four piano sonatas had preceded the work. Later that year, he was awarded “Best Composition” at a youth competition in Brussels, Belgium, where he gave a speech before the European Parliament.

The following year, Tom composed a minuet for three strings and piano that was part of a command performance before Her Majesty the Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxemburg, Maria Theresa. During the summer of that year, the director of the Theatre of Esch-Alzette commissioned Tom to compose an overture for the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the theatre. The overture was performed by the R.T.L. Symphony Orchestra, and was conducted by Maestro Pierre Cao.

Tom also performed many of his works for small instrumental groups each year during concerts presented by the music department of his high school.

The most significant classical composition of his young life was written when he was in his late-teens, his Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 17, written before passing his A-Level in 1990.

For the following three years, Tom studied stylistic harmony, counterpoint and fugue at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Dance de Paris, where he achieved with three so-called “first prizes” (diplomas) in each subject. During this period, he was commissioned by the European Deputy, Viviane Reding, to compose the overture “Luxemburg in Europe” to celebrate the Contract of Maastricht, the contract ratifying the inner markets of twelve European Union (EU) countries, including Luxembourg.

Tom’s works all being in classical and romantic styles, he decided to continue studying orchestra conducting at the Music Conservatory “Mozarteum” in Salzburg, Austria. For his second term, he chose to relocate to the University of Music at Graz, a lesser-known town in Austria, with such move allowing him to study with Canadian-born Raffi Armenian. During this period, Tom conducted his Symphony No. 2 with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Maribor (Slovenia), and attended two other academies of conducting—the Wiener Meisterkurse (Vienna Master Course) and Académie Internationale D’Interprétation Musicale pour Orchestre Symphonique (AIDIMOS)—over the next four years.

Tom’s departure from classical music studies to film scoring came at the encouragement of his orchestration instructor, Klemens Gadenstætter. It was Gadenstætter who noted that the world-renowned film scoring program at the University of California, Los Angeles, would allow for the style imitations Tom studied in Paris to be further cultivated and used for film music. Not wanting to follow the course of upcoming conductors and making his way through opera, Tom elected to move to Los Angeles, where he successfully graduated from the prestigious film scoring program.

In a very short time, Tom scored his first motion picture, June Cabin, produced and directed by Ross Otterman. Recording with a 27-piece orchestra, Tom reached into his classical training to bring a most haunting score to the screen. Following June Cabin, Tom is scoring Brotherhood of Blood for a German-American co-production starring Juergen Prochnow, directed by Michael Rösch and produced by Mr. Rösch and Peter Scheerer, Kinostar Filmproduktion GmbH.

In composing music to film, Tom’s musical gift and international training have allowed him a unique sensitivity to capture the emotions evoked on the screen, and to successfully translate those emotions to music. Tom truly practices the fine art of film scoring, evolving from similar roots of training that brought us the greats of film scoring in Hollywood, and not film scoring by sound design or by “ear.” His journey into motion pictures has begun.

Tom resides in Los Angeles, California, and Esch-Alzette, Luxembourg.

RESUME

MOTION PICTURES

MEMORYMAN
David Markoff, dir.
Perception Pictures, David Markoff, exec. prod.

BROTHERHOOD OF BLOOD
Michael Rösch, Peter Scheerer, dirs.
Kinostar Filmproduktion GmbH, Juergen Popp, exec. prod.
Nicole Ackermann, Mark Burman, Wolfgang Herold, Scott Pearlman, Sascha Seifert, prods.

JUNE CABIN
Ross Otterman, dir.
Otterman Films, Ross Otterman, prod.

CLASSICAL COMPOSITIONS (*Performed, **Recorded)

ORCHESTRAL - Symphony No. 1 in E Flat Major, Opus 9
                         Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Opus 17**
                         Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Opus 25**
                         Symphony No. 4 in B Flat Major, Opus 28
                         Overture - “Letzebuerg an Europa in B Flat Major, Opus 19*
                         Overture for Orchestra in D Major, Opus 14***
                         Divertimento for Orchestra in D Major, Opus 1**
                         Andante Cantabile for Orchestra in A Flat Major, Opus 8
                         Chaconne for Wind Orchestra in A Minor, Opus 13***
                         Eruption for String Orchestra in A Minor, Opus 24
                         Intermezzo for String Orchestra in F Major, Opus 21
                         March for Brass Ensemble in B Flat Major, Opus 2
                         String Serenade No. 1 in G Major, Opus 11*

CHAMBER - Romantic Variations for String Quartet in F-Major, Opus 29
                   String Quartet No. 1in C Major, Opus 22**
                   Sonata for Mandolin and Cembalo in G Major, Opus 5
                   Rondo for Violin and Piano in C Major, Opus 12
                   Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Major, Opus 26
                   Rondo for Clarinet and Piano in G Major, Opus 15*
                   Piano Trio No. 1 in G Major, Opus 18***

PIANO - Phantasy for Piano in F Major, Opus 27
             Theme and Variations for Piano in C Major, Opus 16*
             Piano Sonata No. 1 in F Major, Opus 3              Piano Sonata No. 2 in F Major, Opus 4
             Piano Sonata No. 3 in C Major, Opus 6
             Piano Sonata No. 4 in B Flat Major, Opus 7
             Piano Sonata No. 5 in G Major, Opus 10*
             Piano Sonata No. 6 in A Major, Opus 23**
             “Pour Anne” for Piano in D Minor, Opus 20**

EDUCATION AND ADVANCED PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

University of California, Los Angeles, USA
Advanced Studies, Film Scoring and Music Business; Studies with film composer Charles Bernstein

University of Music, Graz, Austria
Advanced Studies, Conducting

Academies of Conducting, Pontarlier, Saintes and Cernay, France

Wiener Meisterkurse (Vienna Master Course), Vienna, Austria

Music Conservatory “Mozarteum”, Salzburg, Austria
Diploma: Conducting Symphony Orchestras

Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, France
Diplomas: Counterpoint, Fugue and Harmony

Lycee de Garcons, Esch/Alzette, Luxemburg
A-Level

Music Conservatory, Esch/Alzette, Luxemburg
Diplomas: Solfeggio, Harmony, Counterpoint, Fugue, Analysis, Musical Esthetism and Piano


Fluent in English, German, French, Luxemburgisch