Tom Harrold is a Guinness World Record Breaking composer for film, television and media with a rare classical background. His work combines a strong sense of drama with the craft of a composer trained at the Royal Northern College of Music, commissioned by the BBC Proms, and performed internationally.
...remarkable for the confidence and character of its orchestration, and a golden thread of a melody that weaves its way artfully through the surface excitement.
The Scotsman
PORTFOLIO
I’d dare to suggest that Nightfires, with its incredible seismic heaving, is among the most exciting pieces I’ve heard from a Scottish composer in the last 25 years
The Herald
ABOUT
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Tom Harrold is a Scottish composer renowned for bold, dramatic and emotionally direct music for film, television, dance, media and the concert hall. A composer with a rare classical background, he brings the craft of large-scale orchestral writing to screen-focused work, creating scores with strong dramatic shape, a distinctive musical identity, and a deep sense of atmosphere. His music has been used on BBC, ITV, STV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and CBS, and his media work spans drama, horror, thriller, fantasy, action, orchestral scoring and contemporary hybrid music.
Tom’s recent work includes original music for My Sister, the Serial Killer, a 40-minute ballet score for Ballet Black which toured the UK. His screen and media credits include collaborations with Spitfire Audio, Westwood Audio, Sonixinema, Soundiron, Lightsong Music, Evolution Media Music and London Sync, and in 2025, his rescore of CueTube’s VESPER was named a top-10 finalist.
Classically trained at the Royal Northern College of Music, Tom has written for many of the UK’s leading orchestras and ensembles, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Singers, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Psappha, EXAUDI, Aurora Orchestra, Foden’s Brass Band, Manchester Camerata and the Edinburgh Quartet. A winner of the BBC Proms/Guardian Young Composer Award, his music has opened the Last Night of the Proms, broken a Guinness World Record, and been performed at major venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Wigmore Hall, Barbican, King’s Place, Bridgewater Hall, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Sadler’s Wells, Hackney Empire and Birmingham Hippodrome.
Alongside his work as a composer, Tom has extensive experience as an orchestrator, arranger and educator. He is a lecturer in composition at Leeds Conservatoire. From his studio near Manchester, UK, Tom creates original music for collaborators seeking highly crafted scores with emotional weight, atmosphere, and a clear musical identity.
SELECTED CREDITS
Raze, for orchestra: opened the Last Night of the BBC Proms
BBC Symphony Orchestra / Sakari Oramo
My Sister, the Serial Killer: 40-min ballet score
Toured UK with Ballet Black
