Jon A. Thompson, DMA

Assistant Professor of Music; Chair, Department of Music
It has been an enormous privilege to teach Music at Trinity Western University since 1996. The emphasis on mentoring and high-level music-making has made my time exceptionally rich and rewarding. The opportunity to be part of a Christian community of scholars, students, and staff has been a great joy to me as I have served.

Dr. Jon Thompson holds a DMA in Choral Conducting and Literature from the University of Colorado, Boulder, an MMus in Choral Conducting from Western Washington University, and a BA in Music from Trinity Western University. He has over 25 years of university-level teaching and conducting experience at TWU and with the choirs of Simon Fraser University. A passionate instructor, he has mentored students into graduate studies and a variety of professional activities in the Music field.
During his time as assistant conductor of the Vancouver Bach Choir he conducted on two national CBC Choral Concert broadcasts, prepared many choral/orchestral performances, including the world premiere of Peter Maxwell Davies’ oratorio Job, and assisted Sir Simon Rattle at the Birmingham Festival. He was also a conductor of choral and choral/orchestral performances of works by Mozart and Haydn with ensembles at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
A regular contributor of reviews to The Choral Journal, Dr. Thompson has also contributed feature-length articles on topics of interest to the choral art, such as the music of Jean Sibelius. Since its inception he has been editor of the Verge Journal, on online publication of the School of the Arts, Media + Culture.

  • DMA (Colorado at Boulder)
  • MMus (Western Washington University)
  • BA Music (TWU)

Expertise

Scandinavian Choral Music of the late 19C and turn of 20C, particularly the choral music of Edvard Grieg and Jean Sibelius, British Choral Music of the late 19C and early 20C, particularly the choral music of Charles Villiers Stanford and Ralph Vaughan Williams, Renaissance Choral Music and the Notation of 15th and 16th-century European polyphonic music

Recent Publications

  • Review of “Saeya, Saeya, Parang Saeya” by Ah-Young Kim, March 2019
  • Review of “Sanctuary” by David Squires. The Choral Journal, September 2017
  • Review of “A Garland of Carols (A Homage to Britten)” by Anthony Bolton, The Choral Journal, October 2013
  • Review of “St. Matthew Passion, Bärenreiter edition” The Choral Journal, February 2010
  • “The Choral Music of Jean Sibelius” The Choral Journal, February 2007

Affiliations & Memberships

  • British Columbia Post-Secondary Music Forum
  • College Music Society
  • The American Choral Director’s Association

  • MUSI 110 Music Fundamentals
  • MUSI 131 Music History from 1600-1800
  • MUSI 145/146/245/246/345/346/445/446 Orchestra
  • MUSI 161/162/261/262/361/362/461/462 Vocal Jazz / Renaissance Singers
  • MUSI 330 Music History to 1600
  • MUSI 405 and 406 Conducting I and II