Bay Area conductor George Thomson enjoys a rich and varied musical career. Raised in Sunnyvale, California, where he began his musical study in the public schools, Thomson attended the University of California at Berkeley, where he received his bachelor’s degree in music, studying conducting with Michael Senturia and Philip Brett. Winning an Alfred Hertz Travelling Fellowship in 1984 enabled him to further his studies in London before returning to Berkeley, where he continued to conduct and pursue graduate study in Musicology, specializing in eighteenth-century Italian instrumental music.

While at Berkeley, Thomson became involved with the historical-performance movement and with the performance of contemporary music. He was for several years the music director of the San Francisco-based new music ensemble EARPLAY. He has appeared as a guest conductor with many new music ensembles, including the Empyrean Ensemble, Composers Inc. and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. With the latter ensemble he conducted two works by Andrew Imbrie in a recording released in 2002 on the Albany Records label.

Thomson has worked for the Berkeley Symphony as a conductor since the fall of 1994. He currently holds the position of associate conductor. He conducts a subscription program as well as several rehearsals each season in the absence of Music Director Kent Nagano and directs the Symphony’s “Under Construction” series of new music reading events. Thomson is also director of the Symphony’s award-winning music education program, which brings the orchestra into the Berkeley public schools in a series of innovative performances each season. Formerly music director of the Prometheus Symphony, a community orchestra based in Oakland, Thomson has also appeared as a guest conductor with the Marin Symphony, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra, the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, and the New Century Chamber Orchestra.

As a performer on Baroque and modern violin and viola, Thomson has enjoyed long associations with several Bay Area ensembles, including the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and the American Bach Soloists. From 1996 to 2005 he was principal violist of the Carmel Bach Festival and played in the Festival String Quartet. His extensive experience with the Baroque repertoire informed his highly-acclaimed conducting debut with Berkeley Opera in a production of Handel’s Acis and Galatea in May of 2004.