D. Thomas Toner
D. Thomas Toner is a Professor of Music at the University of Vermont where he teaches percussion and conducts the Percussion Ensemble, Concert Band, and Wind Ensemble. Dr. Toner is the Principal Percussionist of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, with whom he has performed a wide variety of music, including much of the standard orchestral repertoire, unusual 20th Century pieces (such as the solo snare drum part in Carl Nielsen’s clarinet concerto with soloist Richard Stoltzman), and “Pops” music with the likes of Peter, Paul, and Mary, and Tish Hinojosa. He has also appeared with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Massachusetts Chamber Players, the Bermuda Philharmonic, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and many other ensembles in the northeast.
His eclectic career has included performances with the Clifford Ball Orchestra (for the rock band Phish), before Princess Grace and Princess Caroline of Monaco, at a world music festival in Bali, Indonesia, and with a native troupe in a torrential lightning storm in Ghana, West Africa. He has appeared as soloist with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, been a featured artist on faculty recitals at the University of Massachusetts and Dartmouth, Williams, and Smith Colleges, and traveled to China three times, presenting recitals and masterclasses at the Inner Mongolian Arts College in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia.
Dr. Toner appears on recordings with the Vermont Symphony, the Robert DeCormier Ensemble, on two solo recordings of Trey Anastasio and on numerous Counterpoint Chorus recordings.
He was awarded both the Doctor of Musical Arts degree and the Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, a Master of Music degree and Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst.
