Biography
Thomas Kemp
Thomas Kemp is rapidly developing a reputation as one of the finest and imaginative conductors of his generation. The Guardian recently commented “…an extraordinary performance… with a fluency that came over brilliantly under the baton of Thomas Kemp.”
He read music at St.Catharine’s College, Cambridge and studied violin and chamber music at the Royal Northern College of Music and has since enjoyed an international career as a chamber musician and concertmaster. From 2003-2007, he won the Swedish Academy Scholarship to study conducting at the Royal Conservatory in Stockholm with the legendary Jorma Panula and Alan Gilbert and is increasingly in demand as a conductor.
Thomas is the Music Director of the highly acclaimed ensemble Chamber Domaine, which is at the forefront of British ensembles focusing on 20th and 21st century music. He made his conducting debut in a series of concerts celebrating Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams at the Victoria and Albert Museum, which The Financial Times described as “exceptional musical events.” The Gramophone praised his conducting of Gorecki “a wealth of timbral subtlety… utterly magical… a tremendous sense of vitality and commitment.”
He is Artistic Director of Music@Malling – an international festival that promotes the works of contemporary composers alongside masterworks from the classical and romantic periods. In 2011 Mark-Anthony Turnage is featured alongside works by Mahler and Mozart.
Recent conducting projects have included the Pori Sinfonietta; Gavle Symphony; Swedish Chamber Orchestra; Scottish Chamber Orchestra; Hebrides Ensemble; Chamber Domaine; and I Pomeriggi. These concerts have been met with universal praise from performers, audiences and critics alike.
Forthcoming conducting engagements include concerts at King’s Place; Wigmore Hall; guest conducting engagements in the UK, Finland and Sweden and a series of recordings with Chamber Domaine with world premiere performances of Judith Bingham, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Schoenberg and Barber.
Thomas is an award winning recording artist and has recorded for ASV, Blackbox, Landor and Sony Classics. He recently made his recording debut as a conductor in a disc of world premiere recordings of Henrik Gorecki for Landor Records, which has received five star reviews in the BBC Music and Classic FM Magazines. Norman Lebrecht in the Evening Standard described the playing as “gorgeous.” Fanfare described the recording as: “…utterly fascinating…One cannot say enough for the musical sensitivity as well a the virtuosity… Chamber Domaine is the British equivalent of Eight Blackbird…”
He is also conducting a series of contemporary music recordings for the World’s first download only record label Resonus Classics.
He has performed at many leading festivals in the UK and overseas including the Edinburgh, Cheltenham, City of London, Huddersfield Contemporary, Wien Modern, The Proms, Vale of Glamorgan, Aldeburgh and Brighton Festivals. He has broadcast regularly on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM, ORF (Austria), ABC (Australia), WNYC (USA) and SR (Sweden). He is a guest artist at Bargemusic, New York and since his debut in 2000, Thomas has been a regular performer at Wigmore Hall, South Bank Centre and Carnegie Hall, New York.
Thomas has given many world premieres and has worked closely with composers such as Arvo Part, Thomas Ades, Julian Anderson, Mathew Hindson, Brian Ferneyhough, Judith Bingham, Judith Weir, Najii Hakim, Piers Hellawell, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Brian Elias, Henrik Gorecki, Haflidi Hallgrimson, Charlotte Bray, Ned Rorem, Ulijas Pulkis, Aulis Sallinen and Stuart MacRae.
In 2009, Thomas worked closely with the Turner Prize winning artist, Anish Kapoor for the Brighton Festival to great acclaim. Thomas also works closely with David Horne in education projects for Sound and Music and Wigmore Hall – taking contemporary music to inner-city schools.
He has worked worldwide as a guest leader with many renowned orchestras and ensembles. Thomas teaches violin and chamber music at the Royal Northern College of Music and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and has given masterclasses worldwide.
In Summer 2012, Thomas makes his operatic debut for Opera Holland Park conducting the City of London Sinfonia in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte.