Tom Coult (born 1988) is a composer from London, whose playful and seductive music has been championed internationally by major orchestras, ensembles, and soloists.

Recent projects include debut chamber opera Violet¸ with a text by Alice Birch, which debuted at the Aldeburgh Festival in 2022 and subsequently toured the UK to acclaim. It has since received new productions at the Theater Ulm and from L'Aurore Boréale in Paris, directed by Jacques Osinski.

A residency with the BBC Philharmonic has given rise to several celebrated large-scale works, culminating in Monologues for the Curious at the 2025 BBC Proms - an orchestral song cycle inspired by M.R. James for tenor Allan Clayton. Pleasure Garden, a violin concerto for Daniel Pioro conducted by Elena Schwarz, premiered in 2020, followed by Three Pieces that Disappear (premiered at the Bridgewater Hall by Nicholas Collon in 2023) and After Lassus for soprano Anna Dennis. The latter three, along with Beautiful Caged Thing – created for the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Claire Booth – were recorded on a celebrated NMC portrait album released in 2024.

Other acclaimed large-scale works include St John’s Dance (whose premiere, from Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, opened the First Night of the 2017 BBC Proms) and Sonnet Machine, written for the BBC Philharmonic in 2016 and subsequently conducted by Martyn Brabbins with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. Coult has also enjoyed associations with Britten Sinfonia and London Sinfonietta (who premiered Spirit of the Staircase and Violet - both nominated for a South Bank Sky Arts Awards). His works have been performed by the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, as well Scottish Ensemble and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

Chamber works have received performances by ensembles including Arditti Quartet, Psappha, Fidelio Trio, Riot Ensemble and musicians from the Philharmonia Orchestra. In 2022 Coult was composer-in-residence at Musikdorf Ernen, which saw the premiere of his horn trio Two Nocturnes and a Maze from Alec Frank-Gemmill, Daniel Bard, and Alasdair Beatson. In 2024 his String Quartet No.2 premiered at the Lucerne Festival. In 2024 Coult collaborated again with Daniel Pioro for the world premiere of O Ecclesia, O Euchari and Hymns of Kassiana - reimaginings of music by Hildegard von Bingen and Byzantine composer Kassia for violin and voices - with the Marian Consort.

Coult studied at the University of Manchester with Camden Reeves and Philip Grange and at King’s College London with George Benjamin. In 2017 he was Fellow Commoner in the Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge. He has also taught on the Britten Sinfonia Academy composition course and with Aldeburgh Young Musicians. Awards include the Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund Prize and, Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize, and the Critics’ Circle Award for Young Composer.