Thomas Hugh Eastwood (12 March 1922 – 25 October 1999) was a British composer. He was born in

Hawley, Hampshire Hawley is a small village in the Hart district of northeastern Hampshire, England. The village is contiguous with the small town of Blackwater. It is on the western edge of the Blackwater Valley conurbation, about northwest of central Farnbor ...

, the son of General Sir Thomas

Ralph Eastwood Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Ralph Eastwood, (10 May 1890 – 15 February 1959) was a senior British Army officer and Governor of Gibraltar during the Second World War. Early life Thomas Ralph Eastwood was born on 10 May 1890 at Canterbury in ...

and Lady Mabel Vivian Temperley Eastwood. His grandmother was Ellinor Hall Smyth (married name Eastwood), sister of the British composer Dame

Ethel Smyth Dame Ethel Mary Smyth (; 22 April 18588 May 1944) was an English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement. Her compositions include songs, works for piano, chamber music, orchestral works, choral works and operas. Smyth tended t ...

. Tom Eastwood was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

University. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was aide-de-camp to his father who was then

Governor of Gibraltar The governor of Gibraltar is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government. The role of the governor is to act as the ...

. He first studied music in Turkey with Necil Akses, then in Berlin and London with Boris Blacher and Professor Erwin Stein. Tom Eastwood's inspirations included Greek theatre and later in life his musical imagination was fired by Brazilian folklore, history and music. His music encompasses contemporary themes such as the murdered environmental activist, Chico Mendes. He won a prize at the 1949 Cheltenham Music Festival for his String Trio. Tom Eastwood worked for the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

and Berlin 1947–54, was a member of the Council of the

Society for the Promotion of New Music The Society for the Promotion of New Music (SPNM), originally named The Committee for the Promotion of New Music, was founded in January 1943 in London by the émigré composer Francis Chagrin, to promote the creation and performance of new music in ...

from 1959 and was on the executive committee in 1959. In 1969 he wrote a television opera for the BBC, ''The Rebel''.

References

1922 births 1999 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English classical composers 20th-century classical composers 20th-century English composers English male classical composers 20th-century British male musicians {{UK-composer-stub