Thomas Dickey

Gold Prize Winner in the 2022 World Classical Music Awards and the 2nd Prize Winner of the 2019 Mozart & Tchaikovsky International Conducting Competition, Thomas Taylor Dickey has been reviewed by critics as a “dynamic and exciting conductor” whose conducting is “imbued with aplomb, energy, and pathos.” Thomas is the newly appointed Director of Orchestral Studies at Pacific Lutheran University, where he conducts the PLU Symphony Orchestra and guides all aspects of the orchestral program. Previously, he held similar positions at Oklahoma State University, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, and the University of Evansville.

​Thomas has conducted many professional orchestras throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, including the Bucharest Symphony and Bacau Philharmonic Orchestras in Romania; Danube Symphony Orchestra in Hungary; Belgrade Chamber Orchestra in Serbia; Lyatoshinsky Symphony Orchestra in Ukraine; Shenyang Symphony in China; the North Czech and Moravian Philharmonic Orchestras in the Czech Republic; Atlantic Coast Orchestra in Portugal; London Classical Soloists in England; and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in Canada, in addition to the Bakersfield, Macon, Missouri, Norwalk, Rapides, Springfield, and Tulsa symphonies; the Saratoga Orchestra of Whidbey Island; the Smoky Mountain International Chamber Orchestra; Naples Philharmonic; Rose City Chamber Orchestra; and the Chicago Reading Orchestra. He has also worked with numerous all-state, honors, and university orchestras in Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Thomas holds degrees from the University of Georgia, LSU, and Eastern Illinois University. He has worked with conductors such as Jin Wang, Jorma Panula, Carl Topilow, Christopher Zimmerman, Daniel Lewis, Gustav Meier, and Diane Wittry, and further studied conducting in numerous workshops and masterclasses at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, among others.