The 2019 Honor Orchestra conductor is Dr. Thomas Taylor Dickey
Reviewed by critics as a “dynamic and exciting conductor” whose conducting is “imbued with aplomb, energy, and pathos,” Dr. Thomas Taylor Dickey is the Director of Orchestral Studies at Oklahoma State University, where he conducts the OSU Symphony Orchestra and guides all aspects of the orchestra and orchestral conducting programs. He concurrently serves as Music Director & Conductor of the OSU Youth Orchestra and Artistic Advisor of the Stillwater Community Orchestra. Prior to his appointments in Oklahoma, he was the Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and Music Director & Conductor of the Dubuque Symphony Youth Orchestra (IA).
Dr. Dickey has conducted many professional orchestras throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, including the Belgrade Chamber Orchestra in Serbia; Lyatoshinsky Symphony Orchestra in the Ukraine; Shenyang Symphony in China; the Severočeská filharmonie Teplice and Moravská filharmonie Olomouc in the Czech Republic; the Orquestra da Costa Atlântica in Portugal; London Classical Soloists in England; Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in Canada; and the Philharmonic Orchestra “Mihail Jora” of Bacau, Romania, 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, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
A native of Illinois, Dr. Dickey holds doctoral and master’s degrees in orchestral conducting from the University of Georgia and Louisiana State University, respectively, and graduated with highest honors from Eastern Illinois University. He has worked with conductors such as Carl Topilow, Christopher Zimmerman, Daniel Lewis, Gustav Meier, and Diane Wittry, and further studied conducting in numerous workshops and master classes at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, among others.
