Composer, Musical Director, Violinist, b. 1955, Australia
Tom Fitzgerald has composed a diverse range of music for Film and Television projects, as well as for Live Concert and Musical Theatre Events. These include productions with Patrick White for the A.B.C., and award winning scores for ABC Television Natural History Film Unit. He has scored for Feature Films and Multi Media projects, including "Snapshot", "Stanley" and "The Good Cook."

Tom's concert performances include working with well-known artists such as Elton John, Dionne Warwick, Sting, James Taylor, Nancy Wilson, and Sammy Davis Jnr., as well as Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras and contemporary ensembles on violin. Tom has worked extensively in New York City, on Broadway for Musicals, such as "Evita", in recording studios, and in contemporary music Concerts.

As a Musical Director, Tom has conducted Symphony Orchestras and directed productions for The State Orchestra of Victoria, for The ABC Queensland Symphony Orchestra, as well as Chamber Orchestra Ensembles in Australia and the United States. Also directing and or conducting several major television broadcast, live Concert Events for Melbourne International Arts Festival, Channel 7 Christmas Concert, Moomba (see Music House Production credits) Musical Theatre Production credits include "Les Miserables" in Australia, as Conductor/assistant Musical Director/Orchestra Leader, and "The Phantom of the Opera" as musical consultant.

Recent Australian projects include Composer and Musical Director for "The Opening Ceremony", Melbourne International Festival of Arts, and creating music and sound design for major Television Advertising Commercials.

As director of One Earth Orchestra, Tom has brought together an exciting new Australian music ensemble of eighteen (plus) musicians, that workshop and perform the new works of International and Australian composers, such as Steve Reich, Stephen Ingham, David Baker, Keith Humble, Peter Sculthorpe and Tom Fitzgerald. The group comprises electric bass, drums, percussion, flute, string section, keyboard, opera soloists and vocalists. The "wild" expressive style blends contemporary electric sounds, orchestral and tribal textures, frequently incorporating improvisation within scored sections of material, spoken word and collaborating with multimedia artists.

Tom holds Master of Music and Bachelor of Music Degree from Melbourne University. Graduate student in the USA at Indiana University and New York City. Educational appointments have included sessional lecturer at Melbourne University, Scotch College, Melbourne Grammar, M.L.C. Kew and Wesley College.

In 2004, Tom was awarded "The ABC Radio Residency" by the New Media Board of the Australia Council for the Arts.

Tom composed the music for "Chika", a documentary performance created by Mayu Kanamori. The ABC Radio National program of "Chika" is a finalist in the Radio Feature, Documentary or Broadcast Special category of the 2004 Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism.

Tom completed his Doctoral Thesis in Composition at University of Wollongong University in 2005. He also holds Master of Music and Bachelor of Music (Hons) from Melbourne University and was a graduate student in the USA at Indiana University and New York City. Educational appointments have included sessional lecturer at Melbourne University, Scotch College, Melbourne Grammar, M.L.C. Kew and Wesley College.

In 2004, Tom was awarded the ABC Radio Arts/Australia Council New Media Artist-in-Residence for 2005 and a Peggy Glanville Hicks Composer Fellowship. Shower Songs - Canaries in the Mineshafts, a radiophonic musical composition created during the composer's residency premiered on ABC Radio National networks on December, 2005.

And the Music Caught Fire: The Rebirth of Irish Music - 'The Awakening' and 'The Roaring Tiger', two programs exploring the renaissance of Irish Music presented by Thomas Fitzgerald and Siobhan McHugh. Broadcast in March 2007 on ABC Radio National.

The first program in Thomas Fitzgerald's recent project, the SBS Peace Song Tapestries was broadcast on the 13th November, 2007. The project was officially launched on August 27, 2007. The Peace Song Tapestries is an Digital Radio Broadcast featuring the world's children sharing songs of peace, empowering understanding of each other, weaving their peace songs into the tapestry of a new musical work. Special thanks to the students of Gawura campus of St Andrew's Cathedral School, whose performance of their own music on instruments they created, imbued the occasion with the spirit of the Peace Song Tapestries. Sing together