Thomas Heuser

Download the Idaho Falls Symphony press release announcing their "Search for Excellence" winner, Thomas Heuser.

American conductor Thomas Heuser has appeared with orchestras and ensembles in the U.S., Canada, Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic and Estonia. Mr. Heuser was a Fulbright Scholar in Munich, Germany, where he mentored with renowned German conductor Bruno Weil at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. While abroad, he conducted premier performances with Ensemble Oktopus in Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne, and commissioned a premier for the annual Fulbright Conference at the Hochschule für Musik Hans Eisler Berlin. Thomas was assistant to Bruno Weil for a 2011 production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte with Jeunesse Musicales Deutschland, and when he stepped into the pit to replace an ailing Maestro Weil, Mr. Heuser was praised in the German press for his “velvety technique” and sophisticated operatic pacing.

Before moving to Germany, Mr. Heuser was Conducting Fellow with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under Paavo Järvi while serving as cover conductor and education coordinator for the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. After an extensive national search, Mr. Heuser was named Music Director of the Idaho Falls Symphony in 2011, where a ground swell of support from audiences has affirmed the power of his performances and the appeal of his programming. Mr. Heuser commutes to Idaho from the San Francisco Bay Area, where he recently conducted a rehearsal of Bartok’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste with the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra on just a few hours notice.

A tireless educator and public speaker, Mr. Heuser has held faculty positions as conductor with the Xavier University Chamber Orchestra, the University of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and the Indiana University All-Campus String Orchestra. He has conducted the top-level training orchestra affiliated with the Utah Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Stephen Foster Youth Orchestra, the Modesto and Napa Valley Youth Symphonies, and the Accent Summer Festival Orchestra, among many others. Thomas began his career as a composer and music director of contemporary music ensembles, and has continued to champion new works as an assistant conductor with the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble and with the 2012 Conductors Guild Conductor/Composer Training Workshop at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.

The son of two molecular biologists at Washington University in St. Louis, Thomas began violin lessons at an early age and studied piano at the St. Louis Symphony Music School. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar College, earning the Francis Walker Prize as a student of Columbian pianist Blanca Uribe. He received his Masters of Music in instrumental conducting from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with David Effron, Thomas Baldner and John Poole. He is a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in orchestral conducting from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music under Mark Gibson.

Thomas currently lives in Oakland, California, with his wife, violinist Lauren Avery.

Updated 7/8/12

For more information please visit www.thomasheuser.com.