Tony Thornton
View Calendar for "Tony Thornton"Active as a conductor, teacher, author, and clinician, Tony Thornton received his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education and Voice from Westminster Choir College, a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Louisiana State University, and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting and Historical Musicology from the University of Arizona. He has studied conducting with Joseph Flummerfelt, Kenneth Fulton, Frauke Haasemann, Margaret Hillis, Bruce Chamberlain, Donald Neuen and Constantina Tsolainou.
Trained first as a singer, Dr. Thornton has performed as a tenor soloist throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. As a member of the Westminster Choir, he performed at the Spoleto Festivals in both Italy and the United States, and he has recorded with Leonard Bernstein, Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado and Zubin Mehta. He sang for seven years as a member of the Grammy Award-winning Robert Shaw Festival Singers.
Dr. Thornton is the Founding Artistic Director of Los Angeles Choral Artists. He currently serves on the choral faculty at California State University, Los Angeles, where he conducts the CSULA Chamber Choir, the University Chorus, and teaches graduate and undergraduate conducting and choral literature. He also serves as a Summer Session and Saturday Seminar faculty member at Westminster Choir College of Rider University.
Dr. Thornton has been a guest lecturer of music at UCLA, Pomona College, Los Angeles City College, Cal Poly Pomona, and has held high school, church, and community chorus positions in Los Angeles, New Jersey, Arizona and Texas. Choruses under his direction have performed in many of the world’s finest venues, including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Munich’s Carl Orff Saal, Der Dom and Sacellum in Salzburg, Benaroya Hall in Seattle, and the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier in Montréal.
As a guest conductor and clinician on the national and international level, Dr. Thornton has worked with over 150 women’s, men’s, and mixed choruses in public schools, colleges, churches, community and professional organizations. A strong advocate for the choral arts, Dr. Thornton has been engaged for the past three years by the Beyond the Bell Branch of Los Angeles Unified School District – the second largest school district in the nation – to present choral pedagogy workshops to music teachers and choral master classes to students in middle and high schools. Evaluations from the workshop participants have been so outstanding that the district continues to book his services each year. In this capacity, Dr. Thornton will have the opportunity to work one-on-one with thousands of singers and teachers within the school district.
In 2005, Dr. Thornton authored a comprehensive guide and CD for choral singers entitled The Choral Singer’s Survival Guide. Already a popular tool for singers and conductors around the world, The Choral Singer’s Survival Guide leads singers through the life cycle of the choral experience, from auditions and rehearsals to the performance and beyond. The companion CD offers vocal exercises and tips to use on a daily basis to improve the sound and quality of the voice. It is an invaluable tool, especially for those who cannot afford regular voice lessons. Through this guide, Dr. Thornton is able to reach new and experienced singers around the world, encouraging each of us to raise the level of artistry in our own choruses and, in the larger scheme of things, the quality of choral music worldwide.
Dr. Thornton holds active memberships in ACDA and Chorus America. He is a full member of NATS, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Inc.Workshop Ideas
Dr. Tony Thornton is available for all-state, regional, honor choir, and festival chorus conducting invitations.
The Joy of Choral Singing
Bring your local choral community together in fellowship and song for a day-long or weekend retreat with Tony Thornton, author of The Choral Singer’s Survival Guide. This fun and inspiring event will offer practical instruction and tips to dramatically improve each singer’s tone, musicianship, and rehearsal and performance skills.
By becoming the best choral musician you can be, you will inspire those singers around you to grow as well. Contact us now to schedule this incredible event in your area.
Choral Pedagogy in the Music Classroom
Choral Pedagogy in the Music Classroom was first presented to teachers within the Los Angeles Unified School District—the second largest school district in the nation—as part of The Choral Project. This series of workshops and master classes empowered teachers with cutting-edge rehearsal techniques and inspired students toward greater artistry in their music making. The workshop may be tailored to the needs of your school, either as a daylong teacher in-service or ongoing to include the master class series and festival chorus performance.
The Nuts and Bolts of Conducting: A Review of the Basics
This exciting session will review both the technical and expressive conducting skills needed for more efficient rehearsals and stellar performances. Topics include: 1) increasing your gestural vocabulary: gestures that create the appropriate sound by helping your chorus to “see the music,” 2) the breath impulse: breathing with and for the ensemble, 3) the body alignment of the conductor and how it influences sound, 4) the communication of dynamics, 5) the use of different beat styles (legato, marcato, and staccato), and so much more.
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