Thomas Wilkins in Brevard Music Center Season; Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Contract Extended Through 2013

[Thomas Wilkins]

Two recent announcements help fill in the performance calendar of Maestro Thomas Wilkins. He is Music Director of the Omaha Symphony, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and holds the Germeshausen Family and Youth Concert Conductor chair with the Boston Symphony:

Variety.com
Posted: Wed., May. 4, 2011, 7:10pm PT
Cirque's 'IRIS' to bow at H'wood Bowl
By Steve Chagollan
“In addition, Thomas Wilkins' contract as principal guest conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra has been extended through the Hollywood Bowl 2013 season.”

WHPK Radio

Copyright Jeff Miller

“Hendersonville Happenings
The Brevard Music Center (BMC), a summer festival and institute, will open its 75th anniversary season on Friday, June 24 on its campus in Brevard, North Carolina.”

“Orchestra forms the heart of Brevard's festival, and a cast of renowned conductors, both American and international, will lead three different orchestras through some of the most important and best-loved music in the repertoire. In addition to Mr. Lockhart (who will conduct five concerts during the season) and Ms. Falletta (who conducts programs on June 24 and 26), other conductors appearing this season include the legendary Swiss conductor Matthias Bamert, Grant Llewellyn (Music Director of the North Carolina Symphony) from Wales, Thomas Wilkins (Omaha Symphony and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra), Lucas Richman (the orchestras of Bangor and Knoxville), and Ken Lam (BMC Resident Conductor).”

'Apr 1 / 12:17pm Omaha Symphony | Thomas Wilkins' by minorwhite studios, inc.

[Thomas Wilkins]

MWStudios.posterous.com

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Thomas Wilkins Bio

“Thomas Wilkins is Music Director of the Omaha Symphony, a position he has held since 2005. Additionally he is Principal Guest Conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and holds the Germeshausen Family and Youth Concert Conductor chair with the Boston Symphony. Past positions have included Resident Conductor of the Detroit Symphony as well as the Florida Orchestra (Tampa Bay) and Associate Conductor of the Richmond Symphony (Virginia). He served on the music faculties of North Park University (Chicago), the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga and Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.”

Leo Adam Biga: 'Omaha Symphony Maestro Thomas Wilkins and His Ever-Seeking Musical Journey'

©by Leo Adam Biga

Published in The Reader (http://www.thereader.com)

“Omaha Symphony Orchestra music director Thomas Wilkins was first inspired to be a conductor at age 8 during a Virginia Symphony Orchestra pops performance in his hometown of Norfolk (Va.). Right from the opening rendition of 'The Star Spangled Banner' he was mesmerized by how the conductor shaped the music. 'I came home that day and I don’t know who I said it to, maybe to my mother, but certainly to myself, and certainly during the concert: “That’s what I want to do when I grow up.” It’s interesting that that was before I had really started an instrument.'

“Raised by a single mom on welfare in the projects of the Jim Crow South, the concert marked Wilkins’ introduction to something outside the gospel, blues and jazz he was steeped in. His mother played organ at storefront black churches. Black music filled the air where he lived. Even though classical music spoke to him at some inner core level, he remained immersed in his roots. He jammed with cats, black and white, from different musical strains. Some, like the Wooten brothers, went on to make their marks in the business just as he did.

“We all grew up together and hung out together. Many of my friends were not involved in classical music but they were still serious musicians. I was blessed with a little bit of talent as a young kid and so those players tend to gravitate towards each other,” he says. “We would share music on the weekends with each other. I would play for them Tchaikovsky and they would play for me Miles Davis, so all of our worlds were being expanded together.”

For Wilkins, classical music became a gateway to a new life, opening unimagined vistas, such as completing graduate studies at the prestigious New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) in Boston, Mass. Today, he’s one of perhaps 10 African-American conductors of major orchestras in the country. In addition to his Omaha post, he’s principal guest conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. High in demand as a guest conductor, he’s led the Dallas Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Symphony, the National Symphony (D.C.) and the Atlanta Symphony.”

Thomas Wilkins Premieres 'Trail of Tears' by Michael Daugherty in Omaha, March 26

[Conductor Thomas Wilkins]

Maestro Thomas Wilkins will conduct the Omaha Symphony in its world premiere performance of Trail of Tears, a work for flute and chamber orchestra by the popular contemporary composer Michael Daugherty, on March 26, 2010 in Omaha, Nebraska.

Lawrence B. Johnson writes in The Los Angeles Times on Jan. 31, 2010:

"Imagine a postmodern Aaron Copland or Charles Ives with a pop cultural twist, and you're primed for the music of Michael Daugherty. A composer of his time and birthright, Daugherty is a Cedar Rapids, Iowa, native and the musical embodiment of Americana. His canvas reflects a 20th century cultural mosaic dotted by the likes of Elvis and Superman and Jackie Onassis. At age 55, Daugherty is also the exuberant master of his craft, an artist whose sophistication and compelling appeal can seem utterly at odds with the often kitschy titles of his works."

Boosey & Hawkes

"Commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra, Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, Delaware Symphony Orchestra, and Omaha Symphony, Trail of Tears is divided into three movements totaling 22 minutes: I. where the wind blew free, II. incantation, and III. sun dance. Says Michael Daugherty: 'One of the tragedies of human history is the forced removal of peoples from their homeland for political, economic, racial, religious, or cultural reasons. My flute concerto is a musical journey into how the human spirit discovers ways to deal with upheaval, adversity and adapting to a new environment.'"