Thomas Wilkins, a Norfolk native and former associate conductor of the Richmond Symphony, has been appointed professor of music (orchestral conducting)
at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University.Wilkins will continue to serve as music director of the Omaha Symphony through the 2021-22 season, after which he will become music director emeritus. He also is principal conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra in Los Angeles and holds the Germeshausen Family and Youth Conductor Chair of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
While conducting in Richmond (1989-94), Wilkins also was on the music faculty of Virginia Commonwealth University. He subsequently served as resident conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Florida Orchestra of Tampa Bay. He has guest-conducted many leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, and the Baltimore, Dallas, Houston and Cincinnati symphonies.
Wilkins is a graduate of Shenandoah College and Conservatory of Music in Winchester and the New England Conservatory in Boston.