Active as a conductor, teacher, author, and clinician, 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 has studied conducting with Joseph Flummerfelt, Kenneth Fulton, Frauke Haasemann, Margaret Hillis, Bruce Chamberlain, Donald Neuen and Constantina Tsolainou.
Trained first as a singer, Dr. Thornton has performed as a tenor soloist throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. As a member of the Westminster Choir, he performed at the Spoleto Festivals in both Italy and the United States, and he has recorded with Leonard Bernstein, Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado and Zubin Mehta. He sang for eight years as a member of the Grammy Award-winning Robert Shaw Festival Singers.
Dr. Thornton is the Founding Artistic Director of Los Angeles Choral Artists. He serves on the choral faculty at California State University, Los Angeles, where he conducts the CSULA Chamber Choir, the University Chorus, and teaches graduate and undergraduate conducting and choral literature. Dr. Thornton has been a guest lecturer of music at UCLA, Pomona College, Los Angeles City College, Cal Poly Pomona, and has held high school, church, and community chorus positions in Los Angeles, New Jersey, Arizona and Texas. Choruses under his direction have been praised for their exquisite sound, musicality and passionate artistry.
As a guest conductor and clinician on the national and international level, Dr. Thornton has worked with over 150 women's, men's, and mixed choruses in public schools, colleges, churches, community and professional organizations. A strong advocate for the choral arts, Dr. Thornton has been engaged for the past three years by the Beyond the Bell Branch of Los Angeles Unified School District – the second largest school district in the nation – to present choral pedagogy workshops to music teachers and choral master classes to students in middle and high schools. Evaluations from the workshop participants have been so outstanding that the district continues to book his services each year. In this capacity, Dr. Thornton will have the opportunity to work one-on-one with thousands of singers and teachers within the school district.
In 2005, Dr. Thornton authored a comprehensive guide and CD for choral singers entitled The Choral Singer's Survival Guide. Already a popular tool for singers and conductors around the world, The Choral Singer's Survival Guide leads singers through the life cycle of the choral experience, from auditions and rehearsals to the performance and beyond. The companion CD offers vocal exercises and tips to use on a daily basis to improve the sound and quality of the voice. It is an invaluable tool, especially for those who cannot afford regular voice lessons. Through this guide, Dr. Thornton is able to reach new and experienced singers around the world, encouraging each of us to raise the level of artistry in our own choruses and, in the larger scheme of things, the quality of choral music worldwide.
Dr. Thornton holds active memberships in ACDA and Chorus America. He is a full member of NATS, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Inc.