Andrew Cottee and Tom Croxon are the creative partners and co-founders of Dream Town Music and the Dream Town Orchestra. They are distinguished classically trained musicians who attended leading music conservatories, and performed with some of the world’s leading symphony orchestras.
Andrew is recognised as one of the world’s most gifted arrangers and orchestrators, and is an award-winning composer of soundtracks.
Tom is a distinguished producer of concerts, tours, events, and award-winning recordings.
They have a combined wealth of experience working at the highest level of the music industry and have achieved notable success in their collaborations with global entertainment companies, and in creating their own productions for the concert hall.
The virtuoso Dream Town Orchestra is recognised in the industry for its outstanding quality and is available to record soundtracks for film & TV, recording artists, theme park productions, or to perform live in concert.
The orchestra has appeared in concert with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga at London’s Royal Albert Hall, at London’s Barbican Centre performing Dream Town Music’s ‘Swingin Christmas’, and features on multiple soundtrack recordings and record releases.
- Andrew Cottee
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- Tom Croxon
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Andrew Cottee is an internationally acclaimed arranger, orchestrator and composer of award-winning soundtracks. Andrew trained as a percussionist at the Royal College of Music, and he has performed with the London Sinfonietta, the BBC Big Band and the London Symphony Orchestra. In 2018 he co-founded the international music production company Dream Town Music.
Andrew is recognised within the music industry for his exceptional artistry and imaginative use of instrumental colours and orchestral textures which inspire and enrich emotional connections. His outstanding talent is illustrated by his award-winning soundtracks for television and his critically acclaimed original arrangements, which have been showcased at concert halls across the world and recorded by eminent artists for leading record labels.
Andrew’s distinguished list of credits extends to his work for film, television, the theatre and concert halls, theme park productions, advertising campaigns and studio recordings. His versatility is exemplified by a broad range of collaborations with global entertainment companies and eminent artists such as Disney, NBCUniversal, Fuzzy Door Productions, the BBC, Universal Pictures, 21st Century Fox, Universal Music, Quincy Jones, Seth MacFarlane, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Paul McCartney.
Andrew has achieved notable success partnering with Disney for multiple productions. Most recently he created inspiring new arrangements of the music from Disney’s hugely successful animated film musical ‘Frozen’, conducting the Dream Town Orchestra for the soundtrack recording to ‘Arendelle: The World of Frozen’ which opened at Hong Kong Disneyland in November 2023.
For television, Andrew’s original music for Seth MacFarlane’s science fiction comedy-drama series ‘The Orville’ was awarded ‘Best Original Score for Television’ by the International Film Music Critics Association. He has also written original arrangements of music for MacFarlane’s globally successful television show ‘Family Guy’. Andrew contributed original arrangements for ‘Mr Bean: The Animated Series’ and the CBS television special ‘Sinatra 100’.
For film, Andrew’s credits include arrangements for Universal Pictures’ ‘Sing’ and ‘Beyond the Sea’. For the theatre, Andrew contributed orchestrations for the Broadway production of ‘An American in Paris’, and his arrangements feature in the studio release of music from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Cinderella’.
In the concert hall, Andrew’s work has been performed by the world’s leading orchestras and at international music festivals including the Ravinia Festival and the BBC Proms. Andrew has written the arrangements and orchestrated the music for ‘Merregnon: Heart of Ice’, collaborating with celebrated gaming composer Nobuo Uematsu on a new concert hall production which premieres in 2024. Andrew was invited by Andrew Lloyd Webber to create symphonic suites of his iconic musicals ‘Evita’, ‘Sunset Boulevard’ and ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and he conducted the world premiere with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Andrew was also invited by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra to arrange the music for a concert production celebrating the life and work of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Andrew co-created Dream Town Music’s concert hall production ‘Swingin’ Christmas’, conducting performances with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, The RTÉ Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dream Town Orchestra at London’s Barbican Centre.
In the recording studio, Andrew has conducted multiple soundtrack recordings with the Dream Town Orchestra, both in London and at the Fox Studios in Los Angeles. He orchestrated Paul McCartney’s ballet ‘Ocean’s Kingdom’, premiered in New York and recorded for Decca Records. Andrew has arranged four studio albums with Seth MacFarlane, including his 2023 Christmas CD with Liz Gillies, ‘We Wish You the Merriest’, recorded by the Dream Town Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios.
Tom Croxon is a distinguished producer of recordings, concerts and tours. Tom’s creative leadership, musical education, expertise, experience, professionalism, innate musicality and constant pursuit of excellence create musical magic.
Tom partners with leading international entertainment companies including Disney, Netflix, ZAG, Fuzzy Door Productions, 20th Century Studios, BBC, RTÉ, NBCUniversal, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group.
Tom’s ability to forge impactful relationships within the artistic, business and philanthropic realms has been evident throughout his career. He is a classically trained musician, a graduate of the Royal College of Music, and was awarded numerous prestigious scholarships to support his postgraduate training at the Juilliard School in New York.
Tom was a professional double bass player and performed with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonia; as a session musician he recorded soundtracks for feature films and for recording artists.
He went on to establish himself as a highly successful producer and entrepreneur in the music industry, which is illustrated by his collaborations with eminent artists, composers, directors, producers, film studios, record labels and music brands.
Tom records at London’s iconic Abbey Road and Air Studios, and his work has been shown on television and performed at leading concert halls around the world such as London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Tom’s expertise extends to producing award-winning recordings; project-managing and score-producing soundtrack recordings; and curating and producing concerts and tours. His legacy of musical excellence, philanthropy and entrepreneurial spirit paints a compelling picture.
In his late twenties, while working as a classical musician, Tom was diagnosed with and successfully treated for testicular cancer. Motivated by gratitude for the outstanding care he received at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London and a desire to raise funds and awareness about the disease, Tom partnered with a distinguished group of leaders from the worlds of business and finance to spearhead a fundraising campaign for male cancer research.
Tom’s creative, organisational and philanthropic skills rose to the fore when he founded the groundbreaking ‘Music for Everyman Gala Concerts’, producing three galas at London’s Royal Festival Hall starring Vladimir Ashkenazy and Christian Thielemann conducting the Philharmonia with soloists Peter Jablonski, Sarah Chang and Evgeny Kissin. They raised the largest sum of money ever achieved by classical gala concerts at the Southbank Centre and contributed substantial funding towards the construction of the pioneering Male Cancer Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research.
This experience had a powerful influence on Tom’s creative and professional development and was the catalyst and inspiration for him founding Tom Croxon Management, which specialises in artist management and music production. Tom has enjoyed long-term collaborations with legendary jazz artists Dame Cleo Laine and Sir John Dankworth, the celebrated American jazz singer Curtis Stigers, opera superstar Maria Ewing, piano virtuoso Artur Pizarro and the John Wilson Orchestra.
Tom produced Artur’s complete cycle of Beethoven’s 32 Piano Sonatas and the complete works of Ravel and Debussy, which were broadcast by BBC Radio 3 and earned Artur a Royal Philharmonic Society nomination for ‘Best Series’. Tom was pivotal in establishing the phenomenal success of the John Wilson Orchestra and was instrumental in the BBC programming the orchestra’s 2009 debut at the BBC Proms, which was broadcast live on national television and seen by millions.
This began a decade-long partnership with the BBC, producing the John Wilson Orchestra’s BBC Proms celebrating the golden age of Hollywood film and Broadway musicals including ‘A Celebration of Classic MGM Film Musicals’, ‘Rodgers & Hammerstein at the Movies’, ‘My Fair Lady’, ‘Kiss Me, Kate’ and ‘Oklahoma’. He produced the orchestra’s national tours and productions at the Philharmonie Berlin and Royce Hall in Los Angeles. Tom is credited with signing the John Wilson Orchestra to an exclusive multi-album recording contract with Warner Classics and with producing the orchestra’s recordings. One of these, ‘Cole Porter in Hollywood’, received an Echo Klassik award and was televised for Sky Arts at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
In 2018 Tom co-founded Dream Town Music in partnership with the outstanding British arranger, orchestrator and award-winning composer Andrew Cottee. Dream Town Music specialises in the creation and production of music for film, television, recording artists, advertising campaigns, theme park productions and concert hall shows.