Thomas Wilkins has conducted several concerts with the North Carolina Symphony since 2017. He appeared most recently in October of 2022, leading a classical program that included Kodály's Dances of Galánta, Jennifer Higdon's Low Brass Concerto, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, “Eroica.”

Thomas Wilkins is Principal Conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Artistic Advisor for Education and Community Engagement with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Virginia Symphony. Previously, he served as Music Director of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra, Resident Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and The Florida Orchestra, and Associate Conductor of the Richmond Symphony. Additionally, Wilkins has led orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and The Cleveland Orchestra.

In 2022, Wilkins was honored with the Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards Lifetime Achievement Award for Music, an honorary Doctorate of Arts from the Boston Conservatory, and the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton Award. In 2018, he was awarded the Leonard Bernstein Lifetime Achievement Award for the Elevation of Music in Society, conferred by the Longy School of Music of Bard College. Other honors include the Virginia Symphony’s Dreamer Award and the “Outstanding Artist” award at the Nebraska Governor’s Arts Awards.

Wilkins holds the Henry A. Upper Chair of Orchestral Conducting at Indiana University. He also has served on the music faculties of North Park University in Chicago, the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, and Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. His commitment to community is demonstrated by his service on several boards of directors in Omaha, St. Petersburg, Tampa Bay, and Richmond. 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, which provides children throughout Central America and the Caribbean with critical surgical and diagnostic care.

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