John Charles Thomas

JJohn Charles Thomas is the Cornet and Assistant Principal Trumpet of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra since 2017, and Acting Principal Trumpet for the 2023-24 season. He has performed as soloist with the HSO under the direction of HSO Music Director Carolyn Kuan, and guest conductors Gerard Schwarz and Wayne du Maine. John has appeared in Europe, Asia, Canada, Latin America and the U.S. as soloist and chamber musician, and under the batons of Riccardo Muti, Lorin Maazel, Sir Colin Davis, Charles Dutoit, Zubin Mehta, Krzysztof Penderecki, Alan Gilbert and Mstislav Rostropovich. In addition to his position with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, John is also the principal trumpet with the Waterbury Symphony.

Prior to his engagement with the HSO, John performed frequently with the New York Philharmonic, and various Broadway shows. He has appeared with the Vienna Symphony, L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Atlanta, American, San Francisco and San Jose Symphonies, the Bermuda Philharmonic and the New Hampshire Music Festival. For over 20 years John was a member of the Grammy Award winning Chestnut Brass Company, and performed on several state department sponsored tours to Central America. As a soloist, his many performances have included Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. 2”, Copland’s “Quiet City”, Hailstork’s “Four Hymns for Trumpet and Orchestra” and concertos by Haydn, Hummel, Shostakovich, Tomasi, Bennett and Arutunian.

Dr. Thomas teaches trumpet and jazz studies at the Hartt School Community Division.

John plays Bach Stradivarius instruments. Trumpets: 37ML, 229CL, 239DL. Cornet 184ML. Flügelhorn 183FL. Herald Trumpet B185.