Tom Hawkes was born in London and studied at the Royal Academy of Music. From 1990 to 1993, he was Director of Productions for Singapore Lyric Opera; his productions included Carmen, The Magic Flute, Rigoletto, The Barber of Seville, and Die Fledermaus. Since then, he has returned to direct productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth. Other work in Singapore includes four chamber operas for the Symphony Orchestra and the children's opera Help, Help the Gobolinks.
Appointments include Artistic Director of Phoenix Opera, Director of Morley Opera and Director of Productions for Castleward Opera where his productions include Rigoletto, La Bohème, Cosi fan Tutte, Die Fledermaus were all nominated for Best Production at the Irish Theatre Awards.
As Artistic Director of Northampton Festival Opera, he has directed 22 productions for the company. He has been associated with Opera Holland Park from the beginning and has directed 14 new productions. For the English National Opera he has directed 5 productions.
His productions for The English Bach Festival have been seen at the Royal Opera Covent Garden and in Paris, Monte Carlo and Versailles, and at festivals in Athens, Madrid, Granada, Peralada, Bologna, Siena, Viterbo, Vichy and Dijon. Internationally he has worked in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Eire, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, Trinidad, USA and Yugoslavia.