Laura Thomas is a conductor, arranger, composer, percussionist and teacher. She is Music Director of the Niagara Youth Orchestra and the Dundas Valley Orchestra, as well as Artistic Director of the Hamilton/Niagara area WomEnchant Chorus and Hamilton’s Singin’ Women Choir. She is also Principal Percussionist of the Niagara Symphony Orchestra. Along with acclaimed flutist Douglas Miller, she developed the Flutes en Route! programs of orchestral, ensemble and educational concerts.
Her guest conducting appearances include Symphony on the Bay, the Huronia Symphony, Etobicoke Philharmonic, the North York Concert Orchestra, and the Bard Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Thomas holds a master's degree in conducting from New York’s prestigious Bard College, where she studied with Harold Farberman. She is also a graduate of Hamilton’s Mohawk College and McMaster University, where she studied percussion and composition.
Ms. Thomas has performed with many ensembles throughout Southern Ontario and Western New York, including the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Hamilton Philharmonic, the Te Deum Orchestra, and the Aradia Ensemble. She is a member of Niagara’s popular eclectic folk/blues band BroadBand, and performs regularly with her Vintage Jazz ensembles.
As a composer, Ms. Thomas has written music for symphony orchestras, choirs, small ensembles, jazz groups and solos. Her compositions and arrangements can be heard in the orchestra and ensemble repertoire of Flutes en Route! featuring Douglas Miller and in the performances and recordings of BroadBand. In 2012 she composed and recorded the soundtrack for the play “Bullying Hurts” by Monica Dufault and produced by Mainstream Services in St. Catharines and, in March 2013, her Concerto for Jazz Trio and Orchestra was premiered by John Sherwood and the Niagara Youth Orchestra.