Tom Hillary is an award-winning, internationally experienced conductor, producer, and project manager, recognised as a pioneer in bringing video game music to the orchestral stage. Critically acclaimed for his dynamic presence, artistic vision, and exceptional knowledge of video game and film soundtracks, he has built a strong international reputation in the fast-growing arena of orchestral crossover, film, and video game music concerts. Described by Crash Bandicoot composer Josh Mancell as a “skilled and nuanced maestro,” he is widely respected for both the breadth and depth of his repertoire. Renowned for his work in orchestral-crossover performance and his championing of rarely heard and newly orchestrated repertoire, Tom is equally at home conducting symphonic, operatic, musical theatre, wind, and brass band works, and has given numerous world premières. Alongside his conducting career, he has extensive experience leading large-scale creative projects across major international venues, recording studios, and broadcast environments. Combining artistic leadership with strategic project management, he oversees productions from concept development and budgeting through to scheduling, resource planning, stakeholder management, team leadership, rehearsal, recording, and final delivery. His client portfolio includes leading video game developers such as Creatures Inc, Game Freak, Nintendo, The Pokémon Company International (TPCi), and Jagex: The RuneScape Company. His responsibilities encompass creative direction, project and financial management, production planning, stakeholder and client liaison, multidisciplinary team leadership, risk management, logistical coordination, and the delivery of complex international productions, working across artistic, technical, operational, and commercial requirements.
While often recognised for high-profile collaborations with leading composers, directors, and producers worldwide, Hillary is also a fervent advocate for accessibility in classical music. Through innovative programming and inclusive concert formats, he works actively to dismantle the barriers that leave many audiences feeling excluded, ensuring orchestral music remains relevant, engaging, and open to new generations. He has conducted performances in prestigious concert halls, opera houses and various unique venues around the globe. Notable highlights include Birmingham Symphony Hall, Hammersmith (Eventim) Apollo—where he made history as the youngest professional conductor to take the stage—Dubai Opera, the Museum of the Future (Dubai), ExCeL Centre (London) — where heconducted at the Opening Ceremony of the 2026 Pokémon European International Championships, Blackpool Winter Gardens (Opera House), Halifax Minster, The Coro, RNCM Concert Hall, Buxton Opera House, and the Al-Rawan viewpoint in Saudi Arabia. He is the Founder and Managing Director of The Manchester Video Game Orchestra (UK) and conducts film with orchestra performances with Senbla Events (UK). Hillary also serves on the conducting staff at the renowned FAMES Project (MKD), one of the world’s busiest film and video game recording studios and is Principal Conductor of The Country Orchestra (UK). Hillary’s television work spans both acting and instruction, including appearances in multiple series as well as coaching renowned actors in effective on-screen conducting. Most recently, he coached Selina Griffiths for Rivals and Rivals Season 2 on Disney+. Past residencies include Music Director of the VBS (Poynton) Brass Band. His guest conducting appearances include engagements with The Arabian Philharmonic Orchestra (UAE/KSA) and The Paradox Orchestra (UK).
Hillary is dedicated to the seamless integration of a diverse range of performance elements. He believes that onscreen visuals, physical expression, and the orchestra are deeply interconnected, each reinforcing the other. For him, visual design and production concepts are not separate additions but essential components that shape the performance as a whole. He views these elements as inseparable, working together to create a cohesive and interdependent experience. Continuing his passion for music and video game/film, Hillary has given numerous world premières. Heconducted live-in-concert world premières of Josh Mancell’s Crash Bandicoot (with the composer present), Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Stewart Copeland’s Spyro the Dragon Trilogy, Jeremy Soule’s The Elder Scrolls Collection, Jeff van Dyck’s Total War Saga, James Hannigan’s RuneScape: Orchestral Collection, Inon Zur’s Crysis, and Robert Euvino’s Stronghold 2. His most recent live-in-concert career highlights include touring a special screening of James Horner’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas, accompanied by live orchestra; marking the first performance of this particular movie with orchestra in the UK.
Among his many international successes are several landmark performances. In 2021, he conducted the Arabian Philharmonic Orchestra at Dubai Opera in a concert featuring Andrea Bocelli, held in celebration of Bocelli’s album Believe. The following year, he returned to Abu Dhabi and Dubai to lead the orchestra at both the opening ceremony of the Museum of the Future and the EXPO 2020 festival (postponed to 2022), showcasing the music of acclaimed Emirati composer Ihab Darwish. In 2023, he conducted the orchestra in Khaybar, Saudi Arabia, for Tales of the Volcano—a breathtaking production that combined live performance with a 1,500-drone show. Commissioned by the Royal Commission for AlUla as part of the month-long AlUla Ancient Kingdoms Festival, the spectacle went on to receive the award for “Best Drone Show Combined with Performing Arts & Historical Significance.”
He explains how he became a conductor:
"In my early twenties, I spent my summers at Sherborne Summer School of Music, where I performed as a percussionist with both the symphony and wind orchestras. It was an inspiring environment, surrounded by passionate musicians. Rodolfo Saglimbeni, Philip Ellis and Christopher Seaman were taking rehearsals of Edward Elgar’s First Symphony and Arnold Bax’s Third Symphony, and their energy and insight were magnetic. One evening, after rehearsal, Ellis approached me with an idea that would shape my future. 'I think you ought to be a conductor, find some music you truly love, gather a few friends, and give it a try.' His suggestion was simple and later that year I gathered a few fellow RNCM students and with a couple of attempts, I found myself conducting small, one to a part arrangements of video game music, which ultimately inspired the creation of the Manchester Video Game Orchestra.”
Throughout his career, he has collaborated directly with notable figures in the entertainment industry, including Aidan Turner, Alexandra Burke, Alex Hassell, Amanda Lawrence, Andrea Bocelli, Barry Gibb, Ben Nickless, Christian Lindberg, Cormac Byrne, Colin Currie, David Calder, Dee Koppang O’Leary, Gary Lamont, Grant Kirkhope, Guy Siner, Hayley Jensen, Ihab Darwish, Jade Helliwell, Jeremy McComb, Joe Lycett, Josh Mancell, Jeff van Dyck, Jonny Weldon, Leo Weston, Matthew Faddy, Maggie Baugh, Michael Ray, Nafessa William, Nile Rodgers, Sam Battle (Look Mum No Computer), Selina Griffiths, Stewart Copeland, Keiko Abe and Zoe Lyons. As a percussionist, Hillary has performed with prominent ensembles both in the UK and internationally, and has won numerous awards. These include the Hallé Orchestra, Black Dyke Band, Brighouse and Rastrick Band, Wingates Band and Hoover Band Bolton. His performances have graced prestigious venues, including The Royal Albert Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, KKL Lucerne, Glastonbury Pyramid Stage, and Stoller Hall.
As a conductor, Hillary has over fifty recording credits to his name. Some of these include the original soundtrack for Star Wars: The Last Padawan II (Jonas Frederik), a collaboration with renowned Erhu master and YouTube sensation Elliot Tordo on music from The Witcher III, andaseries of live albums with The Manchester Video Game Orchestra. Working alongside his artistic team, these recordings feature symphonic interpretations of Final Fantasy (Nobuo Uematsu), The Legend of Zelda (Koji Kondo), Super Mario (Koji Kondo), Halo (Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori), The Elder Scrolls Trilogy (Jeremy Soule), Crash Bandicoot (Josh Mancell), The Spyro Trilogy (Stewart Copeland), Jak and Daxter (Josh Mancell), Crash Team Racing (Josh Mancell), Medal of Honor (Michael Giacchino), and RuneScape (Ian Livingstone). His recording projects also extend to major franchises including Total War (Jeff van Dyck), Battlefield II (Stephen Barton), The Witcher III (Marcin Przybyłowicz), Sonic (Jun Senoue and Tomoya Ohtani), Stronghold 2 (Robert Euvino), Fortnite (Rom Di Prisco), and Crysis (Inon Zur). As a percussionist and timpanist, featured on albums including Ihab Darwish’s Hekayat, Waves of My Life, and a handful of albums with the Black Dyke Band.
Hillary is a seasoned educator and practitioner, having enjoyed leadership roles as Head of Music in multiple educational institutions and has spearheaded a handful of outreach programs. Alongside his career as a conductor and percussionist, he occasionally provides private tuition, working with students across a wide range of ages and abilities. Born in Bolton, North West England, He attended St Joseph’s RC High School and further developed his skills at the Centre of Excellence for Performing Arts; Pendleton Sixth Form. He is an alumnus of the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), earning both his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees there, and he specialised in orchestral percussion, timpani and world percussion. He went on to study conducting in London with the inspirational David Parry, a distinguished champion of operatic, concert, and symphonic repertoire, later serving as his assistant conductor on numerous projects.
Matthew began learning the violin at the age of nine at school, going on to lead both the Bolton Youth Orchestra and the Hallé Youth Orchestra. From 2015 to 2021, he studied at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), graduating with a First-Class Bachelor’s degree in 2019 and a Distinction in his Master’s degree in 2021.
During his time at the RNCM, Matthew led all of the major orchestras, with highlights including directing the RNCM String Ensemble at the Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte in 2018.
Matthew now enjoys a busy and varied freelance performing career, working across a wide range of musical genres with professional orchestras and ensembles throughout the UK. His orchestral work includes performances with the Hallé, Manchester Camerata, Manchester Concert Orchestra and London Concert Orchestra.
He is the Leader of the Manchester Video Game Orchestra, and has led a number of other specialist ensembles, including Northern Film Orchestra and Symphonia Verbum.
Alongside his performing career, Matthew is passionate about music education and outreach. He works within Opera North’s Education Department, teaching as part of its award-winning In Harmony programme in Leeds. He also regularly works with Manchester Camerata in the Community, delivering creative music workshops for schools across the region.
Aaron Breeze is a composer, arranger and pianist based in Manchester. His work spans orchestral, chamber, theatre, dance, brass band and video game music, as well as collaborations with musicians and artists across contemporary and popular music. He has been a member of the Manchester Video Game Orchestra (MVGO) since 2019, working as an arranger and contributing to the orchestra's wider creative and production work. His work as both a composer and performer has been featured on BBC Radio 3, and he has performed internationally as part of the Synthesizer Orchestra with New Order and Liam Gillick as part of Manchester International Festival 2017, subsequently touring with the band in 2018.
His work with MVGO includes arranging and orchestrating music, video editing and post-production, audio post-production and mixing, and creating promotional artwork and posters. One notable example is his arrangement of music from Pokémon for the Opening Ceremony of the 2026 Pokémon European International Championships at London’s ExCeL, created in collaboration with electronic artist Look Mum No Computer. Through MVGO, he has also worked with composers and musicians associated with some of the most recognisable video game soundtracks, including Josh Mancell of Crash Bandicoot.
Alongside his work with MVGO, Aaron works extensively as a pianist, composer and collaborative musician. He has worked as a ballet pianist and repetiteur, including at KS Dance in Warrington and Landestheater Linz in Austria, where he was also a composer working with the ballet department. He regularly accompanies singers and instrumentalists for events and performances across the North West, and has extensive experience in improvisation, sight-reading and collaborative performance. His compositional work for dance includes The Garden and Traumzeit for Tanz Linz, and BUDDHA, choreographed by Ashley Lobo. His concert music includes The Hacienda, which won the Derwent Brass Band Composition Competition before being reworked for ensemble and performed by Ensemble 1010.
