TOM HILLARY
Founder & Conductor
MARCO BELLASI
Choir Master
AARON BREEZE
Assistant, Repetiteur, Composer/Arranger
NATE CHIVERS
Composer/Arranger
Artistic
Tom Hillary - Founder & Conductor
Described by Crash Bandicoot composer Josh Mancell as a “Skilled and Nuanced Maestro”, Tom Hillary is a British Conductor and Percussionist. An alumnus of the Royal Northern College of Music, where he achieved both Bachelor and Master of Music, Tom studied Orchestral Percussion and Timpani. Alongside his Percussion studies and during his six years at the RNCM, Tom studied conducting under the guidance of Olivier Award winning conductor, David Parry.
Tom has conducted performances in major concert halls, opera houses and other venues around the globe, including Birmingham Symphony Hall, Eventim (Hammersmith) Apollo London, Dubai Opera House, Al-Rawan viewpoint in Saudi Arabia to name but a few. Tom is the Founder and Artistic Director of The Manchester Video Game Orchestra (UK) and appears as Conductor with Senbla Events. He has appeared as Guest Conductor with The Arabian Philharmonic Orchestra (UAE) and conducts The Paradox Orchestra and The Country Orchestra (UK). He has also performed with major ensembles in the UK and abroad as percussionist, including the Hallé Orchestra and the Black Dyke Band.
Tom has appeared with The Arabian Philharmonic (UAE/KOSA) on a number of occasions. During his time with the orchestra he performed at the Dubai Opera House in concert with Andrea Bocelli, made an appearance at the EXPO 2020 (2022) festival in Dubai, celebrating the music of renowned Emirati composer, Ihab Darwish, which was broadcast live on Emirati television. His most recent appearance with the orchestra was at the oasis town of Khaybar, Saudi Arabia, accompanying a 1500 piece drone show. The show, which was part of the AlUla Ancient Kingdoms Festival, later received the award “Best Drone Show Combined With Performing Arts & Historical Significance”.
Tom was the Principal Percussionist of Championship Section Brass Band, Wingates Band from 2014-2016 and enjoyed many successes, including a 'Best Percussion' prize and qualification for the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain. In 2016, he gained a position in the Black Dyke Band, conducted by Nicholas Childs.
During his time with Black Dyke, the band won the Yorkshire Area contest a total of three times and performed in Austria, Switzerland, USA and Japan; as well as the Pyramid Stage, Glastonbury. In 2019 he made his début with the Hallé Orchestra at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. In December 2021, he was the Percussionist for Aladdin at Manchester Opera House, featuring Alexandra Burke.
Marco Bellasi - Choir Master
Prize winning conductor, dual citizen of Italy and Australia, Marco has recently finished his appointment as Junior-Fellow conductor at the Royal Northern College of Music.
In addition to the RNCM orchestra, he has worked with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Hallé Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini and the Ensemble 10/10. He has worked also with many amateur orchestras and choirs.
His repertoire includes symphonic, choral, opera and contemporary music. He met critical success in the RNCM for his performance of Sibelius’ Symphony No 2, Prokoviev's Violin Concerto No 1 and Ravel’s 'La Valse'. He also conducted Stravinsky’s’ Feu d’artifice’ in the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester and Steve Reich’s’ Eight lines’ in the presence of the composer. He worked with Sir Mark Elder CBE and has assisted him at various times with the Hallé Orchestra.
He was an active participant in the 2017 'Riccardo Muti Italian Opera Academy' where he worked with Riccardo Muti on Verdi's Aida and performed within a public concert in Ravenna. He participated to Orkney’s conducting course with Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He was selected for the Järvi Academy summer Academy 2012 where he worked with Neeme Järvi, Parvo Järvi and Leonid Grin: there he was awarded the prize from Pärnu City orchestra as the Orchestra’s favourite.
He studied also with Christopher Seaman, Luke Dollman, Juanjo Mena, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Maurizio Dones, Jac Van Steen, Mark Shanahan, Clark Rundell, Mark Heron and Daniele Agiman.
He prepared the RNCM Chamber Choir for Krzysztof Penderecki in a U.K. premier performance of his Seventh Symphony. He is also a trained lyrical singer and worked also as a soloist. He studied violin with Italian soloist Cristiano Rossi and played in many orchestras. He studied composition with Luca Francesconi, Fabio Vacchi, Irlando Danieli and Paolo Rimoldi.
Aaron Breeze - Assistant, Repetiteur, Composer/Arranger
Aaron Breeze (1994-) is a British composer, pianist, accompanist, and arranger based in Manchester. He attended the Junior RNCM where he studied composition, piano and jazz piano. Aaron has recently completed his undergraduate at the RNCM, studying composition with Larry Goves, and piano with Benjamin Powell. He now holds a scholarship to study postgraduate composition at the RNCM to study with David Horne and Larry Goves, with support from The Countess of Munster Musical Trust, and he is also one of the Radcliffe Trust scholars at RNCM. Composition awards include the Peter Redfearn Memorial Prize for Composition, the Grindon / Dearden Prize for Composition, and Aaron was also a finalist in both the 2016 and 2017 RNCM Gold Medal award. He has also received masterclasses from Anders Hillborg, Brian Ferneyhough, and Michael Finnissy, amongst others. Aaron has appeared in several panel discussions, including a pre-concert talk at the Bridgewater Hall discussing the music and life of Leonard Bernstein, and a panel interviewing Sir Harrison Birtwsitle as part of New Music North West 2016.
The performance of contemporary repertoire for piano has long been one of the focal points for Aaron’s work. He has appeared on BBC Radio 3 as a pianist as part of the contemporary concert series ddmmyy, and as a composer and pianist in BBC’s Young Artist Day. Additionally, Aaron is one of the few performers in the world to perform one of the later works by Mortan Feldman, Crippled Symmetry in the 2016 New Music North West Festival. In 2017, Aaron also had the pleasure of working with New Order in the Manchester International Festival’s ‘∑(No,12k,Lg,17Mif)’, in which he was a part of the synth orchestra. In 2018, he subsequently went on tour with the band in Italy and Austria.
Nate Chivers - Composer/Arranger/Guitarist
Nate Chivers is a Guitarist and Composer from Western Massachusetts. Growing up playing in various local rock bands and pit orchestras, he eventually attending the Berklee College of Music where he received his BMus in Composition studying under Pangiotis Liaropoulos. He also has an MMus in composition from the Royal Northern College of Music as well, studying under Gary Carpenter, David Horne, and. He has had pieces performed in the UK, USA, France, and China, by the likes of Psappha, BBC Singers, Kinetic, Music Theatre Wales, and various others. His music has been featured on BBC Radio 3.
As a guitarist he has studied with guitarist Yaron Deutsch at the Darmstadt Summer Course. He has also studied under Amanda Monaco, Jon Damian, and Kimberly Perlak. He mainly works with contemporary classical music but is always up for any type of genre. Currently, he plays his own solo compositions where he combines his training in classical composition and his background in Rock and Jazz.
Now he is a PhD student at the Royal Northern College of Music supervised by Mauricio Pauly, David Horne, and Rodrigo Costanzo.
Admin
Callum Cronin - Orchestra Manager
Having picked up the double bass whilst at high school in the Stirlingshire area of Scotland, Callum was quick to explore a wide range of styles of music. In 2019, he graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland before furthering his studies on the Master of Music programme at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. Callum enjoys a varied performance career as a freelance double bassist and bass guitarist often performing in ensembles such as orchestras, musical theatre bands and jazz groups as well as performing internationally as part of Scottish band Heron Valley.
In 2020 Callum will launch Slàinte Sounds, a music agency based in Scotland, providing live music for special occasions and functions across the country as well as management services to a selection of ensembles.
