Raised in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Thomas Burton is Artistic Director of the Orpheus Choir of Toronto,  Artistic Director of Durham Region’s RESOUND Choir, and Co-Conductor of the Halifax-based Borealis Chamber Choir. He is a member of the choral faculty at the University of Toronto, where he instructs undergraduate choral conducting and directs the Faculty of Music’s Tenor/Bass choir. Praised for his innovative and eclectic programming as well as his dynamic presence on the podium, Thomas is in-demand nationally as a guest conductor, clinician and educator.

Thomas is passionate about inspiring excellence in performers of all ages and abilities. He regularly commissions new pieces by Canadian and international composers, and has conducted many Canadian and world premieres of new and rarely heard choral works. An accomplished choral singer, Thomas has sung with some of Canada’s finest choral ensembles including the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers, Voces Boreales, and the Nathaniel Dett Chorale.

Thomas is a recipient of the Iwan Edwards Scholarship for Young Choral Conductors, awarded by Jeunesses Musicales in 2024, the Ken Fleet Choral Conducting Scholarship, and the Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation Award. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Trombone Performance from McGill University and a master’s degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Michigan where he studied with Dr. Jerry Blackstone and Dr. Eugene Rogers.