Patrick Thomas (conductor)
Encyclopedia
Patrick Thomas MBE is an Australia
n conductor.
For a period of almost 35 years he conducted hundreds of performances across Australia in just about every centre where the various state symphony orchestras ventured, and introduced music to virtually a whole generation of young Australians through his popular and distinctive schools concerts. He held a succession of important posts with four of Australia's major ABC
orchestras and the specially created position of ABC Federal Conductor-in-Residence as well as conducting the Australian Opera
and the Australian Ballet. He also conducted the ABC's radio chorus, the Adelaide Singers.
Overseas, he appeared in 12 countries as Guest Conductor of such orchestras as the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
, the Hallé Orchestra
, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Polish National Radio and Television Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra
, CBC Symphony Orchestra
, Prague Radio Orchestra, and many others in New Zealand
, the Czech Republic
, Bulgaria
and South Africa
. Other facets of his diverse career included those of concert, radio and television presenter and interviewer.
, and attended Eagle Junction State School in Clayfield
. In August 1944, at age 12, he attended his first major evening orchestral concert, when Eugene Ormandy
conducted at Brisbane City Hall
in four concerts designed to boost the war effort. Thomas requested, and a few days later received, Ormandy’s autograph, and from then on set his sights on becoming a conductor. As a 14-year-old, he played third flute
at the first Queensland Symphony Orchestra
(QSO) performance, on 26 March 1947, when the new 45-member ensemble under guest conductor Percy Code introduced Queenslanders to their own professional symphony orchestra.
In 1963, the ABC's acting federal director of music, Joseph Post
, gave him a conducting audition and less than two years later Thomas became director of the ABC's Adelaide Singers. From there he had a brief stint with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
before returning to his home state.
In 1973 he became the QSO’s first – and to date only – homegrown chief conductor. He stayed in that post until 1977. He decided to increasingly offer 20th-century composers as a way of developing a broadened approach on the part of the audiences to diverse modern repertoire, plus a more responsive and capable facility from the orchestra. Patrick Thomas co-established a successful Modern Music Forum in Brisbane.
Regularly conducting the Sydney Symphony Orchestra
including on the its international tours, and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
, Thomas's glamorous concert engagements outside Queensland were in stark contrast to the harsh performance conditions which he and his 65-piece orchestra endured at home. Able to fill in at short notice when a scheduled conductor cancelled, Thomas became the ABC's Sydney-based conductor-in-residence. Thomas established an international reputation, especially in Europe where he was offered coveted return engagements by several leading ensembles. But his dedication to family and his home country meant that his career remained based in Australia. As the final director of the ABC Sinfonia
, he became a casualty of the structural reforms of the mid-1980s that led eventually to the complete divestment of the orchestras from the ABC.
As a writer, his later work has included an autobiography, several hundred poems, a booklet of career anecdotes, a published reference text (Overture to Conducting), as well as articles and scripts for radio stations 2MBS FM
and ABC Classic FM
.
He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire
(MBE) in 1978 and made an Honorary Life Member of the Fellowship of Australian Composers in 1998, a first for an Australian conductor. In 2005 he became a Patron of the Music Teachers' Association of New South Wales.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n conductor.
For a period of almost 35 years he conducted hundreds of performances across Australia in just about every centre where the various state symphony orchestras ventured, and introduced music to virtually a whole generation of young Australians through his popular and distinctive schools concerts. He held a succession of important posts with four of Australia's major ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
orchestras and the specially created position of ABC Federal Conductor-in-Residence as well as conducting the Australian Opera
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
and the Australian Ballet. He also conducted the ABC's radio chorus, the Adelaide Singers.
Overseas, he appeared in 12 countries as Guest Conductor of such orchestras as the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
The Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra is an orchestra based in Moscow, Russia. It was founded in 1951 by Samuil Samosud, as the Moscow Youth Orchestra for young and inexperienced musicians, acquiring its current name in 1953...
, the Hallé Orchestra
The Hallé
The Hallé is a symphony orchestra based in Manchester, England. It is the UK's oldest extant symphony orchestra , supports a choir, youth choir and a youth orchestra, and releases its recordings on its own record label, though it has occasionally released recordings on Angel Records and EMI...
, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Polish National Radio and Television Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
, CBC Symphony Orchestra
CBC Symphony Orchestra
The CBC Symphony Orchestra was a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario that was operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation during the 1950s and 1960s. Founded in 1952, conductor Geoffrey Waddington served as the orchestra'a only music director; although other conductors, such as...
, Prague Radio Orchestra, and many others in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. Other facets of his diverse career included those of concert, radio and television presenter and interviewer.
Biography
Alan Patrick Thomas was born in BrisbaneBrisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, and attended Eagle Junction State School in Clayfield
Clayfield, Queensland
Clayfield is an inner-northern suburb of Brisbane, located approximately from the CBD. Clayfield is bordered to the north by Nundah, to the East by Ascot and Hendra, to the west by Wooloowin and to the South by Albion....
. In August 1944, at age 12, he attended his first major evening orchestral concert, when Eugene Ormandy
Eugene Ormandy
Eugene Ormandy was a Hungarian-born conductor and violinist.-Early life:Born Jenő Blau in Budapest, Hungary, Ormandy began studying violin at the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music at the age of five...
conducted at Brisbane City Hall
Brisbane City Hall
Brisbane City Hall, in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, is the seat of the Brisbane City Council. It is located adjacent to King George Square, where the rectangular City Hall has its main entrance. The City Hall also has frontages and entrances in both Ann Street and Adelaide Street...
in four concerts designed to boost the war effort. Thomas requested, and a few days later received, Ormandy’s autograph, and from then on set his sights on becoming a conductor. As a 14-year-old, he played third flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
at the first Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Queensland Symphony Orchestra
The Queensland Symphony Orchestra is an Australian orchestra, based principally in Brisbane in the state of Queensland.The QSO played its first concert on 26 March 1947, with the orchestra consisting of 45 musicians, conducted by Percy Code. John Farnsworth Hall was recruited from the Sydney...
(QSO) performance, on 26 March 1947, when the new 45-member ensemble under guest conductor Percy Code introduced Queenslanders to their own professional symphony orchestra.
In 1963, the ABC's acting federal director of music, Joseph Post
Joseph Post
Joseph Mozart Post OBE was an Australian conductor and music administrator. He made an unrivalled contribution to the development of opera-conducting in Australia and was, in Roger Covell's words, the 'first Australian-born musician to excel in this genre'...
, gave him a conducting audition and less than two years later Thomas became director of the ABC's Adelaide Singers. From there he had a brief stint with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is the smallest of the six orchestras established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation .-Activities:...
before returning to his home state.
In 1973 he became the QSO’s first – and to date only – homegrown chief conductor. He stayed in that post until 1977. He decided to increasingly offer 20th-century composers as a way of developing a broadened approach on the part of the audiences to diverse modern repertoire, plus a more responsive and capable facility from the orchestra. Patrick Thomas co-established a successful Modern Music Forum in Brisbane.
Regularly conducting the Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra , commonly known as the Sydney Symphony, is an Australian symphony orchestra based in Sydney...
including on the its international tours, and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Melbourne, Australia. It has 100 permanent musicians. Melbourne has the longest continuous history of orchestral music of any Australian city and the MSO is the oldest professional orchestra in Australia...
, Thomas's glamorous concert engagements outside Queensland were in stark contrast to the harsh performance conditions which he and his 65-piece orchestra endured at home. Able to fill in at short notice when a scheduled conductor cancelled, Thomas became the ABC's Sydney-based conductor-in-residence. Thomas established an international reputation, especially in Europe where he was offered coveted return engagements by several leading ensembles. But his dedication to family and his home country meant that his career remained based in Australia. As the final director of the ABC Sinfonia
ABC Sinfonia
The ABC Sinfonia was an Australian training orchestra established as the National Training Orchestra by the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1967. In 1980, the Orchestra was renamed ABC Sinfonia. Based in Sydney, the 40-piece orchestra was entered by scholarship, and was intended to train...
, he became a casualty of the structural reforms of the mid-1980s that led eventually to the complete divestment of the orchestras from the ABC.
As a writer, his later work has included an autobiography, several hundred poems, a booklet of career anecdotes, a published reference text (Overture to Conducting), as well as articles and scripts for radio stations 2MBS FM
2MBS
2MBS FM is a Sydney music radio station operated by the Music Broadcasting Society of New South Wales Co-Operative Limited.Launched in 15 December 1974, it is Australia's first fully licensed FM radio station....
and ABC Classic FM
ABC Classic FM
ABC Classic FM is a classical music radio station available in Australia, and internationally online. It is operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . It was established in 1976 as "ABC-FM", and later for a short time was known as "ABC Fine Music" , before adopting its current name...
.
He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(MBE) in 1978 and made an Honorary Life Member of the Fellowship of Australian Composers in 1998, a first for an Australian conductor. In 2005 he became a Patron of the Music Teachers' Association of New South Wales.
Sources
- ‘’24 Hours’’, ABC, 4 August 2002
- http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21427528-5003421,00.htmlMartin Buzacott, ‘’Proud history lives on’’, The Courier-MailThe Courier-MailThe Courier-Mail is a daily newspaper published in Brisbane, Australia. Owned by News Limited, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner northern suburbs, and it is printed at Murarrie, in Brisbane's...
, 24 March 2007] - Ku-Ring-Gai Philharmonoic Orchestra