Violinist Thomas Gould has forged a distinguished career as a soloist, leader and director.  With a fluency across a number of different genres, Thomas has become a highly sought after collaborator, raising the bar for versatility on his instrument.

His studies at the Royal Academy of Music were followed by solo representation by YCAT (Young Classical Artists Trust), appointments as leader of Aurora and Britten Sinfonia, and membership of the chamber ensembles Artea Quartet and Man Overboard Quintet.  In 2014 Thomas signed an album deal with Edition Classics, and his début album Live in Riga (a live recording of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto) was released a year later to great acclaim.

Gould has performed as soloist with almost all of the major UK orchestras as well as ones in Australia, Denmark, France, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Latvia, the Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland and the United States.  He has given more than twenty performances of Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at London’s Royal Albert Hall.  At the same time he has developed a reputation as a committed interpreter of contemporary works, working with many leading living composers including Michel van der Aa, Thomas Adès, Johannes Berauer, Mark Bowden, Dai Fujikura, Keaton Henson, Gavin Higgins, Jóhann Jóhannsson, James MacMillan, Nico Muhly, Max Richter and John Woolrich.

In recital Thomas has performed with pianists Alasdair Beatson, Ivana Gavric, Joanna MacGregor, John Reid, Gwilym Simcock and Ana-Maria Vera, with accordionist Ksenija Sidorova, cellists Adrian Brendel and Philip Higham, and harpsichordists Patrick Ayrton and Mahan Esfahani.  With the Artea Quartet he has recorded discs of Mendelssohn and Schubert, and with the swing band Man Overboard Quintet two albums, all on Champs Hill Records.

Thomas joined Britten Sinfonia as co-leader in 2006, becoming one of its leaders in 2016. He regularly directs projects from the violin, and has been engaged as a guest director with Sinfonietta Riga, Kölner Kammerorchester, ACO Collective, European Union Youth Orchestra, Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra and Southbank Sinfonia.

Thomas’s interest in jazz stems from his school days and early studies in piano and drums.  He enjoys long-term collaborations with Tim Garland and Gwilym Simcock, and has appeared at the London Jazz Festival and many of the UK’s premier jazz venues and festivals.  In 2017/18 he curated a four-concert series at London’s Kings Place called the Gould Standard.  Thomas been lucky enough to tour or record with Burt Bacharach, Jacob Collier, Jaga Jazzist, Brad Mehldau and Marius Neset.

A more recent strand to Gould’s career is baroque violin.  He is the regular leader of La Nuova Musica with whom he recently recorded an album called Handel’s Unsung Heroes comprising a selection of Handel opera arias featuring virtuosic violin solos.

Highlights of his 2021/22 season include performances of Beethoven and Django Bates with Orchestra of the Swan, Piazzolla with Royal Tunbridge Wells Symphony Orchestra, recitals with Yulia Chaplina and a return to Dartington International Summer School to give concerts and masterclasses.

Thomas plays on a violin made by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini in 1782.

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