JAGS CHORAL SOCIETY

Tommy Foster
Director of Music. JAGS
Responsible for: The symphony orchestra, Holst choir, madrigalists and the JAGS Choral Society.

Biography
Tommy Foster was born and brought up in Edinburgh where he showed musical promise on percussion, keyboards, guitar and bagpipes. He was an active part of the alternative lo-fi rock scene in the city and was the drummer for the now infamous “Mass intercranial haemorrhage”. He studied electrical engineering then music at the University of Glasgow where he was organ scholar. He took up a postgraduate scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music after winning a major prize at the Shell-LSO scholarships. He then pursued a freelance performing career mainly as timpanist and percussionist. He has worked with the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, BBC orchestras, Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the London Mozart Players. In the field of early music, he has played with the Academy of Ancient Music, English Concert, Gabrieli Consort and Players, Hanover Band and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. He recently recorded Telemann’s triple trumpet and timpani concerto with La Serenissima. In the field of choral music, he has worked with the choirs of King’s College, Cambridge; St John’s College, Cambridge; New College, Oxford; Polyphony, Sixteen and Vox Luminis. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2018 for his contribution to the profession.
Tommy was appointed as a music teacher at Ampleforth College, before going on to posts at St Mary’s Ascot and Eton College (where he was Deputy Director of Music) before taking up his present position as Director of Music at JAGS. AT JAGS he is responsible for the artistic output of the Music department and directs the symphony orchestra, Holst choir, madrigalists and the choral society. Outside of music his interests include munro bagging and fly fishing.
