Tom was born in Perth, Scotland in 1986. He started playing the piano at an early age and bassoon at the age of nine.  He played Principal Bassoon in the National Children's Orchestra of Scotland and at 15 he performed as soloist with Perth Youth Orchestra at the NAYO Festival of British Youth Orchestras, part of the Edinburgh Festival.

In 2004 Tom began studying performance at The University of Leeds where, in his first year, he conducted the Devonshire Hall Orchestra and started work with the Leeds University Symphony Orchestra in 2006.  During this time he was delighted to have the opportunity to perform to a packed Leeds Town Hall with a programme of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Holst’s Planets Suite and also took the orchestra on tour to Tuscany. Tom also had relationships with Leeds Cathedral Choir, The Todmorden Orchestra, Leeds College of Music and the University of Leeds.