Leech's outstanding performance...these performances would meet with Pärt's unqualified approval. [gramophone]
There are sounds that transport me to heaven. In the rooms next to Leeds Cathedral dozens of children are singing - beautifully, stylishly, passionately. [the times]
Leech steers his choir to extract as much as possible from Duruflé's perfumed harmonic writing. [choir and organ]
Tom enjoys a reputation as an outstanding and inspirational choral director with a passion for education and widening access to musical opportunity. Educated at Cambridge University, where he held the Organ Scholarship at Downing College, he is the Director of the Diocese of Leeds' internationally acclaimed Schools Singing Programme, leading one of the most innovative and successful choral programmes in the country, involving some 75 schools and over 6500 children weekly, with its many choirs broadcasting regularly on BBC radio and enjoying international competition and concert success.
Tom combines this with his roles as a consultant for the National Schools Singing Programme and as Musical Director of the award-winning Bradford Festival Choral Society, together with frequent appearances as a guest conductor and workshop leader.
His numerous recording credits include the complete choral works of Duruflé and complete organ works of Arvo Pärt for Brilliant Classics and he has broadcast on BBC1, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4, Classic FM and Radio France. Solo recitals have included many of the major UK venues, including Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral and King's College, Cambridge. In recent years he has been the Artistic Director for the Association of British Choral Directors’ Annual Convention; his educational work has been recognised by the Worshipful Company of Educators' Masters' Award and with a Royal Philharmonic Society Award for the work of the Diocese of Leeds Schools Singing Programme.