Julian Thomas

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Julian Thomas is Choirmaster and Head of Academic Music at Tonbridge School, where he has worked for the last 16 years.

He began his musical training as a chorister at Salisbury Cathedral and then as a music and academic scholar at Charterhouse, before going up to Cambridge as Organ Scholar at Jesus College. After graduating, he moved to Lincoln Cathedral as Second Assistant Organist, becoming a prize-winning Fellow of the Royal College of Organists in 2000. For the next six years, Julian was the Assistant Organist & Director of the Girls’ Choir at Norwich Cathedral, during which time he regularly appeared on both radio and television accompanying and conducting choirs. In addition to this, he also directed the Edington Music Festival, including overseeing the 50th festival and a number of significant choral commissions.

Alongside his roles at the school, Julian is also a published composer (with Encore Publications) and maintains an active career as a freelance organist, deputizing at several London churches, including the Chapel Royal and the Guards’ Chapel, and also working with choirs such as Canticum and London Concert Choir. As a solo recitalist, he has performed in recent years at Bath Abbey, Christchurch Priory, St Mary’s Warwick, Westminster Abbey, Portsmouth, Norwich and Westminster Cathedrals, and his first solo CD, Élévation, was recorded for Regent Records on the 4-manual Marcussen organ of Tonbridge School.