Thom Petty was born in Manchester in 1981. He started playing the piano at the age of 7 and later the saxophone. At the age of 14 he was runner up in the National Young Composer of the Year competition and subsequently studied composition at the Royal Northern College of Music Junior School and with the National Youth Orchestra. As a teenager he was taught by Steve Martland at the Strikeout course in Scotland. At the age of 16 he was selected for the 1998 BBC Young Musicians Composers’ Workshop with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra which was broadcast on BBC 2 and Radio 3 (Acousticaphobia). Following this he was commissioned to write a further orchestral work for the BBCSSO, premiered and broadcast in 2001 (Neuroleptic).

His other works have been performed at the Edinburgh Festival, the Cheltenham Festival, the York Late Music Festival, and the Royal Festival Hall for the Stilgoe Saturday Series.

Recent projects include the score for the film Release and winning the Primrose Piano Quartet’s Composition prize in 2010. He is active as a piano and saxophone player in the Bristol area, and was co-founder of the Bristol Concert Series.

Having attended university in Edinburgh, Thom is now based in Bristol. He is a fully qualified doctor and works as an anaesthetist.

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