Artistic Director, Thomas Colohan with composer, Morten Lauridsen after the inaugural concert.
Thomas Colohan is the Artistic Director of the Washington Master Chorale, a position he has held since helping to found the organization in 2009.
Active as a conductor, teacher, and clinician on both the East and West Coasts, Colohan is also the Interim Music Director for the distinguished All Souls Church, Unitarian, in Washington, D.C.
He served for eight years as Director of Choral Activities and Professor of Voice at Santa Clara University, and for seven years as the Music Director of the Santa Clara Chorale in Santa Clara, Calif. He has led choruses at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Concert Hall, Washington National Cathedral, Prague’s Rudolphinum Concert Hall, the Stephansdom in Vienna, and regularly at the noted Mission Santa Clara in Santa Clara, California.
In 2006, Colohan and his choirs were invited to tour with the Prague Radio Symphony as part of the Czech Republic’s annual Dvořák Festival. The SCU Chamber Singers, established by Colohan in 2002, have gained a reputation for excellence throughout Northern California and have received invitations to sing at the Stanford University Choral Invitational, the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles, and many other venues.
Colohan has also conducted the San Jose Symphony, Symphony Silicon Valley, the California Chamber Symphony, the Mission Chamber Orchestra, and members of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Richmond Symphony.
Artistic Director, Thomas Colohan
His teachers have included renowned choral musicians such as Robert Shaw, Dale Warland, Morten Lauridsen, Helmut Rilling, Donald McCullough, William Dehning, and Daniel Moe.
A lyric baritone who maintains an active voice studio, Colohan has sung professionally on Public Television’s “Great Performances” series at the Kennedy Center with the Washington Opera Chorus. He has also served as a chorister in the Washington Bach Consort, the Master Chorale of Washington, and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus.
Previously, Colohan served for six years as Founder and Artistic Director of the critically acclaimed James River Singers in Richmond, Va., and for two years as Assistant Conductor of the Master Chorale of Washington in Washington, D.C.
He holds a Master of Music in Choral Music from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.