About the Music Director
John Thomas Dodson
John Thomas Dodson is Music Director of the Adrian Symphony Orchestra and Principal Conductor of Ballet Theatre of Toledo.
During Dodson’s eight seasons with the orchestra, the ASO has experienced tremendous artistic growth. The orchestra has collaborated with exceptional soloists, introduced educational programs that serve the entire age spectrum, and created innovative concert formats, all of which have combined to draw the largest audiences in the orchestra’s history. Recent artistic highlights include appearances by Naumburg Award winners violist David Aaron Carpenter and pianist Gilles Vonsattel, a recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with violinist Janet Sung, and a multi-year collaboration with American composer Kenneth Fuchs, resulting in five world premières performed by the orchestra. In 2008, the ASO was one of seven orchestras in the nation chosen by the League of American Orchestras for its Institutional Vision Program, a three-year intensive program devoted to long-term institutional growth. For his impact upon the musical life of the community, Dodson received the 2008 Lenawee Arts Award from the Croswell Opera House.
Previously Dodson was Music Director of the Bryan Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra New York, Philharmonia Orchestra of Tucson, and the Coronado Music Festival.
As a guest conductor, Dodson has worked with the Budapest Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic, Bialystok Philharmonic, and the Symphony Orchestra UANL in Monterrey, Mexico. He has made numerous tours of Russia working with the National Philharmonic of Russia, National Symphony Orchestra of Bashkortostan, Irkutzk Symphony Orchestra, and the Omsk State Academic Symphony Orchestra, with which he recorded the orchestral music of Robert Jager. Upcoming guest conducting engagements include one with the Athens State Symphony Orchestra, which Dodson will conduct in the world première of a new cello concerto by Greek composer Theodore Antoniou.
Born in Dayton, Ohio, Dodson studied composition with Robert Jager and was mentored in strings by Ed Meyer, father of bass virtuoso and composer Edgar Meyer. Dodson holds a master of music degree in orchestral conducting from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland, where he studied under renowned conducting pedagogue Frederik Prausnitz. He continued his studies with Paul Vermel at the Aspen Music School.
Dodson writes a blog, Creative Destruction, at www.artsjournal.com/creatived.