About
Biography
Described as ‘authentic, elegant, and multifaceted’,1 Thomas Baynes is a versatile British composer specialising in contemporary, film, and mixed media music. With a musical voice that navigates the intersection between the intimate aesthetics of contemporary chamber music and cutting-edge sound technologies, Thomas has carved a niche for himself in the dynamic realm of modern composition. Credited with having a ‘beautifully presented’ musical style,2 Thomas creates his work using a distinctive blend of instrumental recording and organic environmental sounds to create immersive auditory experiences that captivate listeners and contribute to the evolving landscape of contemporary composition.
Notable contemporary music and installation projects by Thomas Baynes include: Trains (2023), performed at the Eesti Muusika-Ja Teatriakadeemia in Tallin, Estonia; Our Windrush Story (2023), an installation at the Willis Museum in Basingstoke (UK) to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Windrush community to Hampshire; Changing Our Sound (2021), which won 1st prize in the performing arts section of Royal Holloway’s 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) response competition; 5th Rep (2020), composed and performed under the Contemporary Music for All (CoMA) Young Generation Composer scheme; and Morning (2017), which won the 1st prize at The Petersfield Music Festival’s young composer competition.
As a film and television composer Thomas has written the music for numerous independent productions and has composed, orchestrated, and produced work for the Redcat Creative music library with releases on Universal and APM labels. An early major experience for Thomas’ film career, working on Clint Mansell’s orchestral sessions for Ghost in The Shell at Air Lyndhurst Studios with orchestrator Matt Dunkley and Academy Award winning producer Geoff Foster, set Thomas up well for his more recent work assisting composer Nick Holywell-Walker on the internationally renowned BBC One series Silent Witness. Thomas now has credits on dozens of productions with his work heard on the BBC, broadcast over radio, and is now (at time of writing) approaching three-quarters of a million streams online.
Thomas holds a Bachelor of Music (with First-class Honours) degree from the University of London, for which he attended Royal Holloway and Bedford New College on a music scholarship and graduated with the university’s composition award and a dissertation on the concept of idealism and transcendence in music drama. With further financial support from Royal Holloway and The Touchet Trust Thomas remained at university to obtain a Master of Music (with Distinction) in Historical Musicology with a dissertation on the idea of pleasure in the aesthetics of minimalist music. Thomas is currently undertaking a fully funded UKRI rated PhD in Music (Composition) under composers Nina Whiteman and Tom Parkinson researching immersive audio composition as a creative practice and he also lectures in undergraduate contemporary, film, and video game composition at Royal Holloway (UoL).
1 Aaron Holloway-Nahum, a leading international composer and conductor.
2 Johnathan Willcocks, Festival Conductor of the Leith Hill Musical Festival and former director of the Junior Academy at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Abbey Road Studios, 2020.
Awards
2022
PhD Studentship in Music, Royal Holloway University of London.
2021
2019
Royal Holloway University of London.
2018
1st Prize – Festival of Young Composers (Michael Hurd Memorial Fund), Petersfield Music Festival.
2016
Undergraduate Music Scholarship, Royal Holloway University of London.
AIR Studios, 2017.
Education
2021-25
PhD in Music (Composition), Royal Holloway University of London.
2019-20
MMus in Music with Distinction (Advanced Musical Studies in Historical Musicology), Royal Holloway University of London.
2016-19
BMus in Music with 1st Class Hons., Royal Holloway University of London.
Professional Affiliations, Associations, & Partners
Royal Holloway, University of London
Research Provider and Funder
PRS
Performing Rights and Support
The Touchet Trust
The Touchet Trust
Funder
Independent Society of Musicians
Member