Thomas Bookhout

Thomas Bookhout brings to The Phoenix Symphony Chorus his vast experiences in the choral art, including symphony, opera, university, community, school and church choruses. As Chorus Master of the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, he prepared the Chorus for symphonic performances such as Britten’s War Requiem, Vaughan Williams’s Sea Symphony, and Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast; and for fully staged operas such as Carmen, Il Trovatore and Die Fledermaus. The WVSO Chorus’s performances earned notable reviews in the American Record Guide and Opera News.

Dr. Bookhout draws on his experience as a conductor, educator, and administrator to produce consistently excellent choral ensembles that perform an extremely wide range of repertoire. Before moving to Phoenix nine years ago, Dr. Bookhout also served as Music Director of the Taghkanic Chorale (succeeding two internationally-known conductors, Johannes Somary and Dennis Keene, in that position), Director of Choral Activities at the University of Charleston (WV), Director of the Women’s Chorus and Assistant Conductor of the Concert Choir for the Arizona State University, Director of Music at The Stony Brook School (Long Island, NY), and headmaster of a private school in upstate New York.

In addition to The Phoenix Symphony Chorus, Bookhout is the Director of Performing Arts at Scottsdale Christian Academy and the Sanctuary Choir Director at Camelback Bible Church, which performed a featured concert this summer at the AZ conference of the American Choral Directors Association and toured Poland in 2010. He earned his DMA at Arizona State University, the MM from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, and a BMus in vocal and instrumental music education from Houghton College. Dr. Bookhout has practiced his craft under the teaching of Donald Neuen, Donald Bailey, Alfred Mann, Samuel Adler, David Stocker, Eric Nelson, Joseph Flummerfelt, Frauke Haaseman and Dale Warland. He is on the executive board of the AZ American Choral Directors Association and is a member of numerous professional organizations.