ABOUT
Based on Gadigal/Sydney and Awabakal/Newcastle lands, Tom Avgenicos is a jazz and improvising trumpeter and composer whose work is exploratory, bold, and deeply emotive. Working in an array of creative contexts, often across media, his sonic palette creates spaces for conversation and connection to form the centrepiece of performance.
With his unique and individual improvisational approach, Tom has emerged as a vital presence on the Australian jazz scene. He has released four critically acclaimed albums as leader or co-leader with Delay 45, Avgenicos Brothers, and Tuckerbox and can often be heard in performance with jazz elders Mike Nock, Ten Part Invention, Barney McAll and Matt McMahon. Tom graduated with honours at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2018 and has been mentored by distinguished national and international jazz trumpeters including Warwick Alder, Phil Slater, Scott Tinkler and Ralph Alessi.
His awards and achievements include the 2022 Freedman Jazz Fellow, Margaret Henderson Scholarship and Global Mobility Scholarship (University of Sydney), the Regional Touring Grant (SIMA) and Sonic Futures Artist (SIMA), and recognition as finalist at the National Jazz Awards and Generations in Jazz competitions.
"the sort of outstanding jazz trumpeter who comes along once in a generation" - Eric Myers, Loudmouth
"There is a deep, emotive quality to his playing, his trumpet swooping and diving, as he incrementally ratchets up the intensity, before reverting to near whisper" - Des Cowley, Rhythms Magazine
