Welcome to the website of Dr. Tony Thornton
“The mounting plea for peace (“Dona nobis pacem”) that concludes Bach’s B minor Mass comes as a wrench these days, in a nation riven by politics. It proved particularly stirring at Grace Episcopal Church in Amherst, as sung by the 35-member UMass Bach Festival Chorus, prepared by Tony Thornton, which was unquestionably the star of the festival’s two performances of the Mass.” —The New York Times
“There are few works in the choral repertoire as magical and enrapturing as Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil. When the work is performed as exquisitely as it was Saturday evening by the combined Illuminati Vocal Arts Ensemble and University of Massachusetts Chamber Choir under the direction of Tony Thornton, hearing it can be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
—Mass Live
Active as an educator, conductor, and author, Tony Thornton received his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education and Voice from Westminster Choir College, a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Louisiana State University, and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting and Historical Musicology from the University of Arizona. He studied conducting with Joseph Flummerfelt, Kenneth Fulton, Frauke Haasemann, Margaret Hillis, Bruce Chamberlain, and Donald Neuen.
