Thomas Conlin, Conductor
Thomas Conlin is a frequent guest conductor with opera companies, ballet companies and symphony orchestras on five continents. Recent seasons have included performances in Germany with the Philharmonisches Orchester Augsburg, Baden-Badener Philharmonie and Philharmonisches Orchester der Stadt Ulm, in Italy with Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra in Rio de Janeiro, Cairo Symphony Orchestra (Egypt), Calgary Philharmonic (Canada), Flemish Chamber Orchestra (Belgium), Orquesta Sinfonica de Castilla y Leon (Spain), Pusan Philharmonic (Korea), RTE Symphony Orchestra (Ireland), Volgograd Symphony Orchestra (Russia), Symfoniorkesteret I Stavanger (Norway), Orquesta Sinfonica de Antioquia (Colombia), in Turkey with the Presidential Symphony Orchestra (Ankara) and Izmir State Symphony Orchestra, and in Japan with the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra and the Tokyo Chamber Orchestra.
American orchestras Thomas Conlin has conducted include Baltimore, Buffalo, Charleston, Charlotte, Knoxville, Monterey, Napa, Norfolk, North Carolina, Palm Beach, Rhode Island, Richmond, San Diego, San Jose, Tucson, West Virginia, Youngstown and many others. Conlin and the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra won a Gold Award (1st Prize) at the 1992 Houston International Film Festival for their music video Symphonic Wonderworks, which was also a finalist in the Entertainment Category of the 1992 Telly Awards.
Thomas Conlin's opera and ballet credits include Augusta Opera, Chamber Opera Society of Baltimore, Goldovsky Opera Theatre, Hawaii Opera Theater, Opera Idaho, Las Vegas Opera Theatre, National Grand Opera, Syracuse Opera Company, West Virginia Opera, Sacramento Opera, Teatro Massimo in Palermo (Italy), BalletMet, Ballet South, Charleston Ballet Theater, Chicago Festival Ballet and the National Ballet of America. He is a regular guest at the Croatian National Opera (Zagreb) and was Principal Conductor of Toledo Opera for ten seasons. He has served as vocal coach for many artists currently on the rosters of San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Metropolitan Opera and other major companies.
At the invitation of Herbert von Karajan, Conlin assisted with the Metropolitan Opera production of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. At the Met he also assisted Erich Leinsdorf and Karl Böhm. In Baltimore he prepared and presented the American premiere and the first staged performance in modern times of Mozart's early masterpiece Lucio Silla. His performing edition has been heard at San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera and New York's Mostly Mozart festival.
Conlin founded the Snowshoe Music Festival in the Appalachian mountains and has also conducted at Eastern Music Festival, Shenandoah Music Festival, Music in the Vineyards, Music From Bear Valley and the Festival at Hakone (Japan). His repertoire includes compositions of all styles and periods, with an emphasis on music of our time. Conlin has presented numerous world and national premieres of works by American composers.
Thomas Conlin conducted the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Chorus and soloists in George Crumb’s Star-Child on the CD which won the 2001 Grammy Award for “Best Contemporary Classical Composition.” Conlin’s recording (Bridge 9095) has received highest recommendations from music publications throughout the world, including Billboard, Classic CD, Klassik Heute, Gramophone (“monumental”), Amazon.com (Editor’s Choice), and ClassicsToday.com (“miraculous”). Mr. Conlin's recordings of Crumb's A Haunted Landscape (Bridge 9113)and Echoes of Time and the River (Bridge 9127) have also received international acclaim. All three of Crumb’s major orchestral works have been reissued together on one CD (Bridge 9174). For Naxos, Conlin has recorded the six piano concertos by Brazilian composer Camargo Guarnieri with the Warsaw Philharmonic and pianist Max Barros (Naxos 8.557666 and 8.557667).