Biography of Brian 'Tommy' Thomas, MD

From boyhood to the present day there has been only one consistent strand of interest in Brian Thomas's life - MUSIC! 'Tommy' (the familiar use was inevitable) became proficient enough as a self-taught trombonist to join a semi-professional dance band. He later developed useable skills on the saxophone, vibraphone and drum kit.

Running parallel to this progress was a life-long interest in all forms of entertainment:- theatre, cinema and the circus. For a time he performed semi-professionally as a musical clown and comedy juggler. Then came eleven years as a pilot in the Royal Air Force. Even there he maintained a practical connection with music; one of his secondary duties was as Officer i/c the Station Band. As a composer his first 'official' work was a parade march written for 51 Squadron (with which he served). While at RAF Wyton he was awarded the Queen's Commendation for valuable services in the air in a New Year's Honours List. During that time he was Musical Director for SIMADS (St. Ives Music and Drama Society). When he left the Royal Air Force, Tommy qualified as a secondary school teacher, having gained a College Diploma in Music with Distinction. Additionally, he was awarded two Licentiates by Trinity College of Music London: one in Orchestral Conducting, the other as a Brass Teacher.

For the next seventeen years he was a full-time teacher in Cambridgeshire: six years at Bottisham Village College, and eleven years as Head of Music at Coleridge Community College. At the same time he continued as Musical Director with two Cambridge groups - the Pied Pipers and Festival Players. For several years Tommy was Chief Brass Coach with the Schools Holiday Orchestra and conductor of the Cambridge Concert Orchestra. Guest soloists with the latter included veteran singers John Hanson, Bruce Trent and Ivor Emmanuel. During this period he was also appointed permanent conductor of the Norfolk Symphony Orchestra and remained for fifteen years and over sixty concerts. His compositions now included a symphony and three orchestral suites, all of which received public performance. At the same time he continued to conduct three or four musicals each year, many of them at the Arts Theatre. He had a handful of songs published, and two pieces he wrote for Big Band were used on a CD released by Sonoton (Germany) for commercial TV use.

Tommy has conducted more than 100 stage musical productions. He has been MD for three NODA award winning productions: Die Fledermaus (Saffron Walden Amateur Operatic Society, 2001), Oklahoma! (Festival Players, 2003) and The Scarlet Pimpernel (Festival Players, 2008). The CaOS 2004 production of The Pirates of Penzance, linking Alistair Donkin and Brian Thomas for the fourth time, won the 'Best of the Musicals' award from Combinations (Julie Petrucci, Combined Actors of Cambridge). The same award, but for the year 2007, went to "The Witches of Eastwick" which he MD'd for Festival Players.

Tommy lives in Cambridge and combines his professional work as a musical director with that of arranger and orchestrator.

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