Tom Lane is a composer, sound designer and performer living in Dublin, Ireland. Born in Bristol in 1984, he studied music at Balliol College Oxford, composition at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and composition and experimental music theatre at the Berlin University of the Arts. He completed a PhD in site-specific composition at University College Cork in 2017. Tom was the 2021 Associate Artist of the Gate Theatre and he is represented by the Lisa Richards Agency.
Tom has been nominated for an Irish Times Theatre Award on 7 occasions, most recently Best Soundscape for The Haircut! at the Ark Theatre and Best Opera for The Stalls in 2020. Recent work includes composition for the Olivier Award nominated The Tragedy of Macbeth at the Almeida Theatre directed by Yaël Farber and starring Saoirse Ronan and James McArdle. He was also composer and sound designer for Yaël Farber's Hamlet at Dublin's Gate Theatre and St Ann's Warehouse, New York. In 2018 he composed music for choreographer Hannes Langolf's new physical theatre piece Unruhe at Theater Trier. From 2017-2019 he composed The House Trilogy, a series of chamber operas commissioned by Cork Opera House as part of Cork Midsummer Festival. He is a founding member of Ulysses Opera Theatre.
In 2023 Tom's new orchestral work Nocturne was performed by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland conducted by Gavin Maloney, and in 2024 his new work Earth: The Cradle of Life was commissioned and performed in Galway and Dublin by the Esker Festival Orchestra conducted by Peter Joyce. Also in 2024, Tom's live instrumental score for Branar Theatre's bilingual Story of a Day/Scéal an Lae was premiered in Limerick and Galway, and his newly commissioned trio for horn, violin and piano was performed by the Picorlino Ensemble.
In 2017 Tom composed for United Fall's Girl Song by Emma Martin at the Dublin Theatre Festival and Annie Ryan's production of The White Devil at Shakespeare's Globe, as well as creating a new score for Ballet Ireland's acclaimed production of Giselle choreographed by Ludovic Ondiviela. In 2016 his sound design featured as part of The Corn Exchange's production of The Seagull at the Dublin Theatre Festival. In 2015 he composed music for Romeo and Juliet at the Gate Theatre and Oedipus at the Abbey Theatre as part of the 2015 Dublin Theatre Festival (nominated Best Sound Design, Irish Times Theatre Awards).
Notable performances in 2014 included HARP | A River Cantata as part of the Tiger Dublin Fringe and Twelfth Night directed by Wayne Jordan at the Abbey Theatre. His work on Between Trees and Water with Painted Bird Productions was nominated for an Irish Times theatre award for Best Sound Design. In 2013 Tom composed the music for Collapsing Horse Theatre's production Human Child as well as performing in and creating music for Break by HotForTheatre. In 2012 a newly conceived version of his opera FLATPACK directed by Conor Hanratty was nominated for Best Opera Production by the Irish Times theatre awards. With Bryan O'Connell he created the music for DOGS by Emma Martin Dance (winner of the 2012 Absolut Fringe Best Design and Best Production awards).
Tom Lane was the inaugural recipient of the Seán Ó Riada PhD scholarship in composition for theatre at University College Cork and a 2016 Next Generation Bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland.
Tom has been nominated for an Irish Times Theatre Award on 7 occasions, most recently Best Soundscape for The Haircut! at the Ark Theatre and Best Opera for The Stalls in 2020. Recent work includes composition for the Olivier Award nominated The Tragedy of Macbeth at the Almeida Theatre directed by Yaël Farber and starring Saoirse Ronan and James McArdle. He was also composer and sound designer for Yaël Farber's Hamlet at Dublin's Gate Theatre and St Ann's Warehouse, New York. In 2018 he composed music for choreographer Hannes Langolf's new physical theatre piece Unruhe at Theater Trier. From 2017-2019 he composed The House Trilogy, a series of chamber operas commissioned by Cork Opera House as part of Cork Midsummer Festival. He is a founding member of Ulysses Opera Theatre.
In 2023 Tom's new orchestral work Nocturne was performed by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland conducted by Gavin Maloney, and in 2024 his new work Earth: The Cradle of Life was commissioned and performed in Galway and Dublin by the Esker Festival Orchestra conducted by Peter Joyce. Also in 2024, Tom's live instrumental score for Branar Theatre's bilingual Story of a Day/Scéal an Lae was premiered in Limerick and Galway, and his newly commissioned trio for horn, violin and piano was performed by the Picorlino Ensemble.
In 2017 Tom composed for United Fall's Girl Song by Emma Martin at the Dublin Theatre Festival and Annie Ryan's production of The White Devil at Shakespeare's Globe, as well as creating a new score for Ballet Ireland's acclaimed production of Giselle choreographed by Ludovic Ondiviela. In 2016 his sound design featured as part of The Corn Exchange's production of The Seagull at the Dublin Theatre Festival. In 2015 he composed music for Romeo and Juliet at the Gate Theatre and Oedipus at the Abbey Theatre as part of the 2015 Dublin Theatre Festival (nominated Best Sound Design, Irish Times Theatre Awards).
Notable performances in 2014 included HARP | A River Cantata as part of the Tiger Dublin Fringe and Twelfth Night directed by Wayne Jordan at the Abbey Theatre. His work on Between Trees and Water with Painted Bird Productions was nominated for an Irish Times theatre award for Best Sound Design. In 2013 Tom composed the music for Collapsing Horse Theatre's production Human Child as well as performing in and creating music for Break by HotForTheatre. In 2012 a newly conceived version of his opera FLATPACK directed by Conor Hanratty was nominated for Best Opera Production by the Irish Times theatre awards. With Bryan O'Connell he created the music for DOGS by Emma Martin Dance (winner of the 2012 Absolut Fringe Best Design and Best Production awards).
Tom Lane was the inaugural recipient of the Seán Ó Riada PhD scholarship in composition for theatre at University College Cork and a 2016 Next Generation Bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland.
