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Thomas Wilson, Music Director
Thomas Wilson is currently Music Director of the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs, Associate Conductor of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, and serves on the music faculties at Colorado College and the Colorado Springs Conservatory. He is also a prolific arranger and composer.
Thomas holds a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of Northern Colorado, where he graduated summa cum laude and received the School of Music’s highest honor—the Departmental Scholar Award. He has a master’s degree in Conducting from Colorado State University. In addition to an active schedule of guest conducting, Thomas freelances as an arranger and orchestrator for film/television composers and prominent solo artists. His compositions and arrangements have been performed on five continents, and his recent arrangement of Widor’s Toccata from Organ Symphony No. 5 will be performed by a dozen orchestras during the 2021-2022 season. A strong advocate of music education, Thomas is very active as a clinician and guest conductor for schools, honor bands and honor orchestras. In recent years, Thomas has been researching, writing and presenting in-depth educational experiences for concertgoers. With cutting-edge scholarship, utilizing audiovisual content and bringing orchestras and actors into the mix, Thomas has led audiences to a deeper understanding of essential repertoire, including Mozart’s Requiem and Copland’s Appalachian Spring. An advocate of collaboration, blending genres and mediums to create new possibilities and strengthen arts organizations, Thomas has led countless projects in dance, opera, theater, film, and virtually every genre of music. His programming has won several National Endowment for the Arts awards for its diversity and adventurousness. During the pandemic, Thomas led the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs to record all the performances promised to the public in high quality video and audio. Special projects included an interactive and sensory-friendly Carnival of the Animals and a special broadcast for Rocky Mountain PBS, all while balancing the budget and without cutting pay or laying off a single musician or staff member. In his scant free time, Thomas seeks joy in friends, fitness and learning. He is a voracious reader, a chess player, and an animal advocate who is always happiest on Colorado trails with his nefarious hound, Maynard. Thomas has been called “someone to watch” and “a very exciting conductor” by Michael Tilson Thomas, one of the foremost conductors of our time. |
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Jacob Klock, Concertmaster
Colorado native Jacob Klock was six years old when he received a VHS copy of Walt Disney’s “Fantasia” for Christmas. Inspired by the music featured in the film, he told his parents he wanted to learn the violin and began taking lessons in March 1992. Jacob first worked with the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs in 2004-07 as Assistant Concertmaster and currently serves as Concertmaster, a position he has held since 2010. He has regularly been featured as soloist with the group during that time. Jacob is also a member of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, and joined local string quartet Hausmusik in 2014. Venturing into the non-classical realm, he has played fiddle with Colorado Springs alt-country outfit, Joe Johnson & The Colorado Wildfire since 2012. Jacob enjoys all genres of music past and present, from traditional to experimental, and is an avid collector of records and scores. His favorite composers include J.S. Bach, Brahms, Mahler, and Bartók. Jacob currently lives on the west side of Colorado Springs with his wife Heather, and his three children, Ivy, Ella, and Arlo.
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