Tom Allen is a passionate music lover, storyteller, writer, broadcaster and variously aspirational trombonist. He has published four books of non-fiction, most recently his Classical Musick Almymack, and is entering his 4th decade at CBC as a radio host. He is currently the host of the daily national music program About Time.
Tom hosted the flagship morning show Music and Company on CBC Music for 10 years and followed that with a second decade on Shift. Yet earlier in his long career at CBC, his weekly stories aired to a keen Ontario audience on CBC Radio One's Fresh Air and nationally on This Morning. He has also created, with long-time collaborator Jeff Reilly, a series of dazzling single-shot videos on music and music history.
Tom is the creator, with his life partner, the harpist Lori Gemmell, of a series of stage shows mixing storytelling, history, classical music and original popular song. These shows include Bohemians in Brooklyn ("slickly written" and "beautifully punctuated" - Now Magazine), JS Bach's Long Walk in the Snow and, most recently, Brahms in New York. Tom and Lori continue to perform these shows across the country.
Tom studied at McGill University, graduated from Boston University and received a master’s degree from Yale University. While looking for full-time work as a trombonist, he gave guided tours of Lincoln Centre, temped on Wall Street and cooked in a Mexican restaurant. In 1987, he began touring with the Great Lakes Brass until he joined CBC Radio in Halifax, a very long time ago.
Tom lives with Lori and a ruthlessly cute dog in Toronto. He is an avid all-weather cyclist and plays recreational hockey.
