HUNTER THOMAS, BASSOON
Each week, the staff at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival will endeavor to introduce what really makes the SSMF so unique and special: the faculty. A feature piece will be written on a faculty member giving all students a chance to get to know the artists they will be studying with this upcoming summer. Some of the most amazing and professional musicians in the world call Sewanee their home during the summer and these gifted musicians really make a difference in their student’s lives.
The fourth faculty member we would like to introduce is Hunter Thomas, Bassoon.
Bio:
Since 1996, Hunter Thomas has served as the Principal Bassoonist of the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra in Alabama, an orchestra with which he has performed since high school. Following a recent performance, The Huntsville Times refers to his “hauntingly lovely first solo” in Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6. Hunter has made numerous solo appearances with the HSO, including his acclaimed performance in 2005 of Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto under the direction of Carlos Miguel Prieto. As an orchestral player, Hunter performs regularly with the Chattanooga Symphony, the Tuscaloosa Symphony, the Memphis Symphony, the Alabama Symphony and the Nashville Chamber Orchestra, with which he has recorded for the Dorian CD label. From 1980-1985, Hunter was the Principal Bassoon of the National Orchestra of Colombia, South America.
The 2012 Bassoon Studio performing at the Cowan Center for the Arts under the watchful eyes of Hunter Thomas
Since 2007 Hunter has been artist faculty at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in Sewanee, Tennessee. In March 2011, Hunter appeared as Guest Artist Clinician at the Middle Tennessee State Bassoon Festival in Murfree
sboro, Tennessee.
In recent seasons he has performed the Weber Concerto with the Huntsville Youth orchestra, the Mignone Concertino with the Sewanee Philharmonia Orchestra, the Andriessen Concertino with the Huntsville Chamber Winds, and the Telemann Concerto for Flute and Bassoon with the Huntsville Symphony. He currently serves as the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra’s personnel manager and librarian, bringing a high degree of professionalism and efficiency to that organization’s artistic operations.
Hunter has inspired and mentored countless North Alabama music students. He maintains an active private studio of bassoonists at all playing abilities and serves on the faculty of the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Many of his students have been accepted to prestigious schools and festivals nationwide. His students have appeared on the radio show From the Top, and have been finalists in the Marine Band Concerto Competitions. Hunter is in demand throughout the region as a chamber music coach and festival teacher, and has spent numerous hours in public school band rooms and youth orchestra rehearsals, volunteering his time and expertise in support of music education. Hunter was named the 2003 Harold J. Wilson Music Educator of the Year and served on the Board of Trustees of the Huntsville Youth Orchestra.
Hunter attended the Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Louisville, and has studied with many distinguished teachers including as George Goslee (Cleveland Orchestra), Sol Schoenbach (Philadelphia Orchestra), Leonard Sharrow (NBC Symphony), Dan Welcher (Louisville Orchestra) and Kenneth Moore (Oberlin College). He is a Sewanee Summer Music Festival alumni (1973, 1974), and attended the Sarasota Music Festival two summers.
