Patrick Thomas
Patrick Thomas (1932–2017) was an Australian conductor who led hundreds of performances with the nation’s major orchestras and brought classical music to a generation of schoolchildren through his distinctive schools concerts.
He held posts with four of Australia’s major ABC orchestras, the specially created role of ABC Federal Conductor-in-Residence, and engagements with opera and ballet companies. Overseas he appeared as guest conductor with orchestras in Europe, North America, New Zealand and South Africa.
Born in Brisbane, he first came to notice as a flautist and as a teenager played in the Queensland Symphony Orchestra’s inaugural concert. After directing the Adelaide Singers and a year with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra he became the QSO’s first home-grown chief conductor, where he made a point of offering twentieth-century repertoire.
His recordings include work with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra on The World is a Beautiful Place (MD 3040) and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra on Bruce Cale: Orchestral Works (TP188).
Patrick Thomas appears on
The World is a Beautiful Place
The Australian Rosny Children’s Choir presents A Dozen of Dennis, Peter Davies’s settings of twelve poems from C. J. Dennis’s A Book for Kids, with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.