“Thomas Wilkins, music director of the Omaha Symphony and Norfolk native son, will be returning home this weekend to celebrate and to be celebrated,” writes Denise Watson in Friday’s (1/17) Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA). “Wilkins will receive the Virginia Symphony Orchestra’s Dreamer Award on Sunday, which recognizes Hampton Roads citizens who embody characteristics of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Wilkins will also be the featured speaker next Thursday in Norfolk as part of the Father Joseph N. Green Lecture Series and he will conduct the VSO’s performances of Beethoven Symphony No. 7 next weekend. Wilkins grew up in the neighborhood now named Young Terrace in downtown Norfolk…. He has conducted around the country, including as associate conductor of the Richmond Symphony and resident conductor with the Detroit Symphony and Florida Orchestra. He is the principal conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and holds the Germeshausen Family and Youth Concert Conductor chair with the Boston Symphony. He has worked as the music director for Omaha since 2005 and will become the symphony’s longest-serving director as he continues through its centennial 2020-21 season. He will then become Music Director Emeritus.”
Posted January 18, 2019
