BIOGRAPHY

Torquil was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. Before entering the Royal Academy of Music in 1990, he had already appeared as a concerto soloist throughout Scotland most notably in performances of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no. 3, Mozart no. 26 and Rachmaninoff no. 2. He had also delivered solo recitals in the prestigious Edinburgh International Festival as well as broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland.  His choral anthem “To See a World” was awarded 1st prize in an international composers’ competition and received its world premiere in Glasgow Cathedral.

Upon entering the Academy, Torquil’s orchestral work “Leb Wohl – Fantasy after Busoni” was immediately performed by the Academy Symphony Orchestra. His diversity and range increased in London, for as well as continuing to garner praise in the classical field, Torquil began to develop his skills in the studio. He also travelled often to Edinburgh to appear as musical director for theatrical productions by the National Youth Music Theatre which he had been involved with for many years. Other performances include the “Moscow Festival Ballet”, the TV shows “Frank Stubbs Promotes”, “Love Life” and “Take Two” and the film “This Boy’s Story” as well as teaching posts at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama and RADA.

Following Torquil’s graduation, theatre played a more important role in his career and for the next few years he was to be involved as conductor or musical director for such well known London productions as “Cats”, “Blood Brothers” and “Miss Saigon”. In 1999 Torquil was asked to be part of the music team to set up the original production of “Mamma Mia!” - the musical based on the songs of Abba. He worked with composers and Abba members Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus on the show which immediately became a world wide smash hit, and performed on the soundtrack album which was nominated for a Grammy in 2001. Torquil was asked to remain as musical director of the show for 3 years following its opening which included performing in front of 110,000 spectators for “Party in the Park” and also at the celebrations for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002. During this time he was also appointed musical advisor for the dance production “Bounce” which enjoyed London residences and European tours.

In 2004 Torquil was invited to Los Angeles by Synchronicity Music to work on projects and music production for TV and film. As a composer, his music has been heard on MTV – “Nick & Jessica - The Newlyweds”, “The Osbournes” and “Battle for Ozzfest”; VH1 – “The Love Lounge”; USA Network – “Before & Afternoon Movie”; Fox Sports Network and all 3 Fox College Sports stations. In 2005 he received a ‘Golden Trailer’ nomination for best original music for a motion picture trailer for the worldwide campaign for “Ocean’s 12”. He also scored the feature film “What We Do” for Skyrock Entertainment.
Torquil was involved in the US version of “Grease – You’re The One That I Want” for NBC and was vocal coach for Pierce Brosnan and Amanda Seyfried in preparation for their roles in the upcoming “Mamma Mia!” movie.