Tom Fetherstonhaugh is Artistic Director of Fantasia Orchestra, with whom he has conducted four BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall.
In the 2026/27 season, Tom makes debuts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Philharmonia Orchestra, and returns for engagements with Britten Sinfonia, Welsh National Opera and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra with whom he maintains a close relationship. He was Assistant Conductor at the BSO between 2022-2024 where he conducted 70 performances, and he is delighted to be returning for 12 concerts in 2026/27.
Tom has enjoyed re-invitations in the last season with the BBC Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, Orchestra of Opera North, and Ulster Orchestra, including several subscription-series concerts.
Artistic collaboration is at the heart of Tom’s work. This season he performs with soloists Ning Feng, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Guy Johnston, Isata Kanneh-Mason, Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Martin Owen, Elena Urioste, and Laura van der Heijden. Wider cultural partners this year include Anthony Gormley (sculptor), Dame Sheila Hancock (actor), Mary McCartney (photographer), and Nitin Sawhney (musician & composer).
Tom has a growing profile in opera, and made his Welsh National Opera debut with Play Opera LIVE in 2026. He has been assistant conductor for Bartók’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex, and Bernstein’s Candide (WNO), Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer (Opera North), Verdi's Macbeth and David Matthews' Anna (The Grange Festival), and has worked on productions of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Puccini's Manon Lescaut (The Grange Festival).
Tom started his musical journey with the Suzuki method of violin playing, and was a chorister of Westminster Abbey. He read music at Merton College, Oxford, and studied conducting with Sian Edwards at the Royal Academy of Music. Tom graduated from the Academy with Distinction and a DipRAM prize in 2021, and was awarded Associate Honours (ARAM) in 2024 for his contribution to the music profession.
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National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, National Concert Hall Dublin - New Year Gala
(January 2026)
"Tom Fetherstonhaugh has the [Viennese] style in spades, and conveyed it to a clearly impressed National Symphony Orchestra Ireland"
The ArtsDesk
Orchestra of Opera North - Ryedale Festival
Ripon Cathedral / July 2025
[re. Elgar's Enigma Variations] - Never fazed by the expansiveness of this acoustic, Fetherstonhaugh opted for mainly swift tempi as might easily have caused blurring in those faster variations had it not been for his scrupulous balance of detail.
Richard Whitehouse, Arcana
Fantasia - Proms at St Jude's
June 2024
Fetherstonhaugh worked especially hard on focus; strings soared and glowed like a top orchestral section, brass packed the right punch.
ArtsDesk
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra - Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherazade
November 2023
The BSO musicians under the baton of assistant conductor Tom Fetherstonhaugh (who only graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 2021) were at their world class best for a hugely appreciative full house.
Bournemouth Echo
Ulster Orchestra - Handel's Messiah
December 2023
The Ulster Orchestra was under the direction of Tom Fetherstonhaugh, the assistant conductor of the prestigious Bournemouth Symphony, and he was a model of precision and control from start to finish.
Belfast Newsletter
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