Biography

Thomas Wilkins is principal conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Boston Symphony’s artistic advisor for education and community engagement, and principal guest conductor of the Virginia Symphony. He holds Indiana University’s Henry A. Upper Chair of Orchestral Conducting, established by the late Barbara and David Jacobs. He completed his tenure as music director of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra at the close of the 2020–21 season. Other past positions include resident conductor of the Detroit Symphony and Florida Orchestra (Tampa Bay) and associate conductor of the Richmond (Virginia) Symphony. He has served on the music faculties of North Park University in Chicago, the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, and Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in December 2019.

After his first season with the Boston Symphony, the Boston Globe named him among the “Best People and Ideas of 2011.” In 2014 he received the Outstanding Artist award at the Nebraska Governor’s Arts Awards for his significant contribution to music in the state. In 2018 he received the Leonard Bernstein Lifetime Achievement Award for the Elevation of Music in Society from the Longy School of Music. In 2022 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Music in the Omaha Entertainment and Arts Award, an honorary doctorate of arts from the Boston Conservatory, and the Gold Baton Award from the League of American Orchestras.

A native of Norfolk, Virginia, Mr. Wilkins is a graduate of the Shenandoah Conservatory and New England Conservatory.