George Thomson is a conductor, violinist/violist, and teacher living in Salem, Oregon

George Thomson grew up in Sunnyvale, California, and attended the University of California at Berkeley, where he received A.B. and M.A. degrees in Music, studying conducting with Michael Senturia and Philip Brett. Before becoming a teacher, he enjoyed a career as a freelance musician, performing Early Music on period instruments with Philharmonia Baroque and American Bach Soloists, and performing Contemporary Music with the ensemble EARPLAY, among others. Other posts he held included Principal Violist of the Carmel Bach Festival, Associate Conductor of the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director of the Marin Symphony Youth Orchestra.

He made a transition to teaching after taking a job in 1999 as Music Director of the Virtuoso Program at San Domenico School in San Anselmo, a unique opportunity for high school students to pursue intensive orchestral and chamber music training in addition to a rigorous college preparatory curriculum. The San Domenico Orchestra da Camera, under Mr. Thomson’s direction, won the “Grand Champion” award at the National Orchestra Festival sponsored by the American String Teachers’ Association on three occasions–in 2005, 2008, and 2010. The Virtuoso Program was featured in the February 2004 issue of Strings Magazine, and was featured on the nationally-broadcast radio program “From the Top” in February of 2006.

George moved to Salem, Oregon in 2010. He taught at McNary High School in Keizer and Crescent Valley High School in Corvallis; from 2013 to 2024 he worked at West Salem High School, teaching Orchestra, Music Theory, and Music Appreciation. Orchestras he has directed in Oregon have won the OSAA State Championships for Full or String Orchestra nine times. He resides in Salem with his wife, musician and writer Michelle Dulak Thomson.

George conducts the Willamette Valley Junior Honors Symphony (JHS), an ensemble of the Corvallis Youth Symphony Association. He is a member of the Period-Instrument Orchestra of the Oregon Bach Festival. He maintains a small private violin/viola studio in Salem, and works throughout the area as an ensemble coach, clinician, and adjudicator.

During the pandemic lockdown phase in March 2020, he started a YouTube channel to which he contributes every so often, as time and inclination permit. You can reach George at: gt {at} georgethomson {dot} com.