Experience
Born in Swansea, Thomas studied with Melissa Phelps at the Yehudi Menuhin School and with Heinrich Schiff in Austria. An exceptionally gifted cellist, he is one of only two artists who auditioned successfully for both Young Concert Artists Trust in London and Young Concert Artists, Inc. in New York. He has since gone on to give critically acclaimed debut recitals at Wigmore Hall (London), Alice Tully Hall (NY) and in Boston, California, Florida and Washington DC.
As a concerto soloist Thomas has appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, London Mozart Players, ViVA, Orchestra of the East Midlands, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra (conducted by Heinrich Schiff), English Chamber Orchestra, Prague Philharmonic, Sofia Philharmonic, and Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchestra. Much in demand as a chamber musician, Thomas has worked with the Belcea Quartet, Chilingirian Quartet, Endellion Quartet, Yehudi Menuhin, Ivry Gitlis, Gidon Kremer, Steven Isserlis, Mischa Maisky, Michael Collins, Julian Rachlin at Wigmore Hall, the Edinburgh and Cheltenham International Festivals, among many others. His recordings include Michael Berkeley’s String Quintet with the Chilingirian Quartet for Chandos.
Recent engagements include concerts at Wigmore Hall, the Louvre in Paris, Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Dubrovnik Festival, Bath MozartFest, Mecklenburg Festival and The International Chamber Music Festival in Utrecht with Janine Jansen, Julian Rachlin and Ensemble. Thomas returned as soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, performed the Dvorak with the Staatsorchester Braumschweiger, Vivaldi Double Concerto with Heinrich Schiff and the Vienna Chamber Orchestra and gave recitals at the Cheltenham Festival and in Holland, Ireland, France, Belgium, Russia, Sweden and Japan. Thomas has also given a series of concerts in Tokyo under the auspices of YCA Inc, been resident at the Delft Festival in Holland and appeared as soloist with the BBC Concert Orchestra at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (broadcast by BBC Radio 3), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Orchestre Regional de Cannes. In August 07 he made his debut with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in a series of performances of Shostakovich’s Concerto No.2.
The 2011/2012 season sees Thomas perform concerti with orchestras including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Brighton Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. Thomas and Llyr Williams' debut disc on the Orchid Classics Label was released in May 2010 to huge critical acclaim. Entitled 'Vienna' and including works by Beethoven, Brahms and Schubert, Thomas and Llyr continue to perform together in the 2011/2012 and concerts include a performance at the Wigmore Hall. As a direct descendent of the composer, Frederick Delius, Thomas celebrates Delius' 150th anniversary in 2012 with pre-concert talks and recitals throughout the UK that highlights Delius' Cello Sonata, one of the composer's favourite works.
Thomas is currently a Professor at the Royal College of Music in London and the Yehudi Menuhin School.
Future Vision
"This season I will play the Dvorak Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It suddenly sprang to mind while practising, that I have had the very great fortune to play this wonderful Concerto now with the Philharmonia, the London Symphony Orchestra and Orchestras around the country and around the world - last year even as far away as South Africa... The piece retains its freshness and appeal and remains one of the biggest and most rewarding challenges a cellist could ask for. I was also reminded that I have had the fortune to play the Elgar, the Rococo Variations, the Beethoven Triple all with the RPO before and that returning to this wonderful Orchestra is always hugely exciting. Soon I will release 2 CD's - one with Llyr Williams playing Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms Sonatas and one with Graham Caskie playing Chopin Sonata. Looking ahead to 2012 I very much look forward to playing the cello repertoire of my ancestor, Frederick Delius. Delius and I share a great, great, great.....grandfather, Johann Daniel Delius. Life is certainly very colourful - thank goodness!!!...."
Thomas Carroll.
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Reviews
'When I listen, I want to put every track on "Repeat".....Definitive performances of ultimate beauty. My Disc of the Year.'
Oleg Ledinov, Music Web International, July 2011.
'impressively thought-through, with just the right amount of light and shade to bring them to life'
Paul Gent, Daily Telegraph, May 2011 
'Thomas Carroll and Llyr William's performances of both Beethoven's A major Cello Sonata and the Brahms work in F major make you wish the Welsh duo would record the remainder of both composer's cello-and-piano repertoire as soon as possible. Both are intensely musical accounts and no challenges ducked....not a note out of place.'
Andrew Clements, The Guardian, May 2011
"... enrapturing ... sumptuous, sweeping, intense, intelligent ... invigorating"
The Sunday Times
Dvorak's Cello Concerto in B minor received a performance full of drive and power. Nevertheless, the many lyrical passages were shaped with the required tenderness and intimacy. In the very expressive Adagio, the balancing act between tenderness and sentimentality was completely convincing. Carroll's powerful, gripping playing delivering full rich colours and timbres right up into the highest notes; his expressive shadings of the melodic material particularly pleasing in the enchanting dialogues with solo wind and solo violin.
Braunschweiger Zeitung Dvorak Concerto/Braunschweiger Staatsorchester 19/5/2008
...but it was the cellist's sumptuous, long-breathed melodies in the duo with piano that, to borrow a phrase from the late Karlheinz Stockhausen, would have reduced howling wolves to silence'
Paul Driver, The Times. December 2007
....What was clear....was Carroll's sense of theatre, of drama and contrast, which imbued not just the Kodály but also the commanding performance of Brahms's Sonata No.2 in F major that closed the programme. This was big-boned Brahms, played with authority, passion and an unerring sense of direction, full of colour and underpinned by a clear musical intelligence'.
The Strad. March 2004
'Word had got round among the cognoscenti, judging from the Who's Who of leading cellists sitting in the audience, and the word was that here was an artist of exceptional talent and musicality. The very first note of Prokofiev's C major Cello Sonata revealed a tone of extraordinary richness – deep, dark and confidently projected – and, as the sonata progressed, the broad range of timbre and expressive command in Carroll's playing came accross compellingly....Carroll, still only in his late twenties, is an artist to watch'.
Geoffrey Norris, The Telegraph, October 2002
Contact
For all queries please contact:
Sinead O'Carroll
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Tel: +44 1753 855 432
Mob: +44 791 376 4141
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