Barber’s Violin Concerto + Duke Ellington

Devoted to promoting a life-long enthusiasm for music, Thomas Wilkins brings energy and commitment to audiences of all ages. He is hailed as a master at communicating and connecting with audiences. He is principal conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra; the Boston Symphony’s artistic advisor, education and community engagement; principal guest conductor of the Virginia Symphony; and he holds Indiana University’s Henry A. Upper chair of orchestral conducting established by the late Barbara and David Jacobs. At the end of the 2020-21 Season, he completed his long and successful tenure as music director of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra.

Other past positions have included resident conductor of the Detroit Symphony and Florida Orchestra (Tampa Bay), and associate conductor of the Richmond (VA) Symphony. He also has served on the music faculties of North Park University (Chicago), the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, and Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Thomas has guest conducted throughout the United States with orchestras that include the New York Philharmonic; Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras; the National, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, and Cincinnati Symphonies, to name a very few.

In 2014, Thomas received the prestigious Outstanding Artist award at the Nebraska Governor’s Arts Awards for his significant contribution to music in the state, while in 2018, he received the Leonard Bernstein Lifetime Achievement Award for the Elevation of Music in Society conferred by Boston’s Longy School of Music. In 2019, the Virginia Symphony bestowed Thomas with its annual Dreamer Award. And in 2022, the Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards presented him with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Music, the Boston Conservatory awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Arts, and he was the recipient of the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton Award.

A native of Norfolk, VA, Thomas Wilkins is a graduate of the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He and his wife Sheri-Lee, are the proud parents of twin daughters, Erica and Nicole.