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Tomasz Golka (born 1975) is a Polish-American conductor, composer and violinist. Golka is the son of pianist Anna Karczewska-Golka and trombonist George Golka. He is the great-grandson of Max Stern. His younger brother Adam Golka is a pianist.^[1]

Golka was born in 1975 in Warsaw, in Poland.^[2] His family emigrated to Mexico when he was young.^[2] He completed bachelor's and master's degrees in violin at the Shepherd School of Music of Rice University in Houston, Texas, and became an American citizen in 1996.^[3] He studied conducting under David Effron at Indiana University and later under Markand Thakar and Gustav Meier at the Peabody Conservatory of Music of Johns Hopkins University.^[2][4][5]

In 2003, Golka won first prize at the Eduardo Mata International Conducting Competition in Mexico City.^[6][7][8]

From 2003-04, Golka was a visiting professor at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana and served as a conductor for the Ball State Symphony Orchestra.^[9]

In 2006, Golka was a conducting fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival.^[10] His work at Tanglewood included conducting a performance of Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale with composers Elliott Carter, Milton Babbitt, and John Harbison as narrators.^[11]

From 2007 to 2012, Golka was music director of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra.^[12][13]

From 2008 to 2010, Golka was music director of the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra.^[14] In 2010, Golka became music director of the Riverside Philharmonic. From 2014 to 2015, he was Chief Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá.^[15] With the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia, he gave several world premieres, including the Colombian premiere of Thomas Adès's Asyla.^[16]

Golka received a certificate in film scoring from UCLA Extension, where he was the recipient of the BMI/Jerry Goldsmith Scholarship.^[17]

On 1 September 2014, Golka married Anna Kostyuchek, associate concertmaster of the Riverside Philharmonic. The couple reside in Los Angeles, California.^[18]

• Celsius 233 for orchestra (2010)
• Valhalla Fanfare for brass and percussion (2010)
• Orchestration of J.S. Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in c minor, BWV 582 (2012)
• The Transit of Venus for violin and orchestra (2013)
• Festivus, Festivus for voice and orchestra or voice and piano (2015)
• Ukrainian Christmas Overture for orchestra (2016)
• Variation on "The Battle Cry of Freedom" for orchestra (2017)
• An Animated Adventure for orchestra (2018)
• Garryowen Variations for orchestra (2018)
• True Green for any instrument and piano (2018) or for 13 instruments (2020)
• Felix in Hollywood, a symphonic score to accompany the 1923 cartoon (2019)
• Afikoman for clarinet and piano (2021)
• The Grief of Ave Maria for violin and piano (2023)

• Villa-Lobos, Heitor: Ciranda das sete notas. Ezequiel Fainguersch, bassoon / Bloomington Chamber Orchestra. Melo Records, 2004.
• Stravinsky, Igor: L'Histoire du soldat. Elliott Carter (The Soldier) / Milton Babbitt (The Devil) / John Harbison (Narrator), Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center. Tanglewood Audio Archives, 2006.^[19]

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