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. Wilkins is principal conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, artistic advisor for education and community engagement for the Boston Symphony and principal guest conductor of the Virginia Symphony; he also holds Indiana University’s Henry A. Upper Chair of Orchestral Conducting established by the late Barbara and David Jacobs as a part of that University’s “Matching the Promise Campaign.” He completed his long and successful tenure as music director of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra at the close of the 2020–21 season. 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.
Following his highly successful first season with the Boston Symphony, the Boston Globe named Wilkins among the “Best People and Ideas of 2011.” In 2014, he received the prestigious Outstanding Artist Award at the Nebraska Governor’s Arts Awards for his significant contribution to music in the state, and, 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 Wilkins with their annual Dreamer Award. In 2022, the Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards presented him with their 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.
During his conducting career, he has led orchestras throughout the United States, including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony and National Symphony. Additionally, he has guest conducted the Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras; the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Baltimore, San Diego, Seattle, Louisiana, North Carolina and Utah; and the Buffalo and Rochester philharmonics, as well as at the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago, to name a few.
His commitment to community has been demonstrated by his participation on several boards of directors, including the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, the Charles Drew Health Center (Omaha), the Center Against Spouse Abuse in Tampa Bay, and the Museum of Fine Arts as well as the Academy Preparatory Center, both in St. Petersburg, FL. Currently, he serves as chairman of the board for the Raymond James Charitable Endowment Fund and as national ambassador for the non-profit World Pediatric Project headquartered in Richmond, VA, which provides children throughout Central America and the Caribbean with critical surgical and diagnostic care.
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.