Ernest Tomlinson

Ernest Tomlinson was a major figure both as composer and conductor in the light music genre. He also wrote works in larger concert music genres, including symphonic jazz. When he formed his Tomlinson Light Orchestra in 1955, he had more of a chance to program his works. The Little Serenade, composed in 1955, became a light music standard. Tomlinson's Fantasia on Auld Lang Syne of 1976 contains what has variously been reported as 129 and 152 quotations from other pieces of music. That year, he became director of the Rossendale Male Voice Choir, and he also founded the Northern Light Orchestra. In 1984, hearing that the BBC was divesting itself of its light music collection, Tomlinson acquired it and installed it in a barn at his Lancashire farm home. He served as a consultant to the Marco Polo label, which issued a number of light music recordings.