Tom Cunningham(1946-2023)

Tom Cunningham was born in 1946 in Edinburgh and studied composition under Melanie Daiken. His compositions, mainly published by Hinshaw Music in the USA and Goodmusic / Roberton in the UK, have been performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chorus, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir, the National Youth Choir of Scotland, Cappella Nova, Laudibus, the Flemish Radio Choir and many others. From 1984 till 2002 he was Musical Director of the Brussels Choral Society and a guest conductor of the Flemish Radio Choir. After returning to Edinburgh in 2003, he completed commissions for the National Youth Choir of Scotland and six sets of poems by Alexander McCall Smith, one of which, A Tapestry of Many Threads, won a Herald Angel Award at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival. His opera The Okavango Macbeth, to a libretto by Alexander McCall Smith, was premiered in Botswana in October 2009 and subsequently performed in Edinburgh, Cambridge and Cape Town - the CD from Delphian Records was one of the Arts Desk's Top 12 Classical CDs of 2012. Another CD Scotland at Night including his compositions performed by Laudibus is also available on Delphian Records.