His past teachers are former Detroit Symphony Principal Cellist Italo Babini and Janet Anthony. Clowes has appeared in master classes with acclaimed violinist Vadim Gluzman and Chicago Symphony Orchestra Principal Cellist John Sharp, and been coached by concert artists Roger Chase, David Schrader, and Yang Liu. As a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, he played under conductors Riccardo Muti, Peter Oundjian, Larry Rachleff, and Cliff Colnot.
Over the summers, Clowes teaches at the Holy Trinity Music School summer camp in Leogane, Haiti, where, in 2006, he performed the finale of Dvorak's cello concerto with Haiti's de facto national orchestra. In May 2010, Clowes organized A Journey to Haiti, a benefit concert for Haiti's Holy Trinity Music School Rebuilding Fund. This critically acclaimed concert, which featured Clowes and other Civic Orchestra members performing Haitian classical, folk, and vodou-inspired chamber music, was broadcast on WFMT, Chicago's classical radio station.
Prior to moving to Chicago, Clowes was a member of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, where he participated in the debut recording of orchestral works of Andre Mathieu, and played with the Phoenix Symphony. He was also on faculty at Tucson's Pima Community College.
Clowes is currently learning the never-performed cello concerto of Harold Laudenslager, a Detroit Symphony violinist who was a composition student of Paul Hindemith and Arthur Honegger.
Watch Tom playing at the WBEZ studios here: http://www.wbez.org/term/person/tom-clowes