By Aren Framil
When he isn’t conducting or teaching, Thomas W. Douglas can be seen around campus with his dog Bette, or sitting in his decorated office in Margaret Morrison, nicknamed “The Dougout.” The walls are covered with posters, the shelves are stacked with CDs and sheet music, and various theater memorabilia surround the comfortable chairs and desk in the center of the room.
By June 1, Douglas will have to clear out The Dougout as he steps down from his position as Director of Choral Activities and Opera Studies for the School of Music. Growing up in Pittsburgh, Douglas never thought he would make music his career. It was only after a year at PennWest Clarion University as a biology major that he switched to music education and began a decades-long career as a singer, conductor, artistic director,
and professor.
“My father was a funeral director, and so there was always a piano down near the dead bodies, and I used to pick out songs. So my parents decided to give me piano lessons,” Douglas said. “I played all through high school, but I never planned to be a working musician.”
After graduating from PennWest Clarion with a Bachelor of Arts in music education, Douglas taught at a high school for three years before returning to Pittsburgh to get his graduate degree in vocal performance from Duquesne. After graduating, the obvious next step was to “join the Pittsburgh Opera, of course, and that’s when my career started to really take off.” Along with working at the opera, Douglas joined the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh as a core member during graduate school. He eventually founded what would become the Pittsburgh East Chorale to perform Handel’s “Messiah.” After running the group for around seven years, Douglas left the U.S. with his then-wife and two young kids to conduct a production of “The Phantom of the Opera” in Switzerland, ultimately totalling 400 performances in the year. “Phantom was the best thing I did, because it really propelled my career forward. Andrew [Lloyd Webber] was smart to write this show. You can’t lose writing Phantom of the Opera, because it has mystery and intrigue and love and murder, and it’s a great theatrical piece,” Douglas said. “When I got back from [conducting], more people started hiring me because, with Phantom on your resume, it means something.” Since Phantom, Douglas has gone on to conduct more than 200 orchestral, musical theater, opera, and oratorio productions. Before conducting Phantom, he played piano for the choirs at Carnegie Mellon, and has since taught voice, and conducted for the
university’s choir and opera programs. “When I came back here, I noticed that people started paying attention to me more, so I felt like I had more of a voice,” Douglas said.
“I have so many students who are now in their 50s and more who I taught when I first started teaching here, and they remind me of things that I used to say to them or did [to help them].” At Carnegie Mellon, Douglas began to see his role as three-pronged: himself as an artist, a conductor, and now a mentor and teacher to his students. Douglas has taught singers who have since performed on Broadway, including Sherée Dunwell (Hell’s Kitchen), Kaleigh Cronin (Death Becomes Her), and Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton), who credits Douglas for teaching him how to sing. “I just want to do stuff that’s meaningful. I want to help as many people
as I can,” Douglas said. “And I have some students here that — I’ve set my purpose to help them get their careers established. There’s so many talented kids here. I take the mentorship work very seriously, because I felt like I didn’t have anyone who really pushed me when I was a kid. So now, when I see a student with talent, I try to lead them in a direction that will help them, or try to put them in touch with somebody who can help them.”
Douglas is currently the Music Director of the Newton Symphony in Kansas and the Artistic Director of the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh, with whom he recently performed the Pittsburgh Debut of the silent film “The Passion of Joan of Arc.” After leaving Carnegie Mellon, Douglas will conduct the Bach Choir for one more season before moving on to bigger, better things.
“I’ve always had a thing that I didn’t want to teach beyond a certain age, and I’ll be 70 this year, which is hard to believe. I never wanted to be teaching when I was 70. And I’ve been having some health challenges,” Douglas said.
“And so it felt like it’s time to move on and let somebody else do this, and go to my next chapter. I think I’ll call up the music supervisor and tell her I want to conduct Phantom again. I might ask if I could do a national tour or something
like that.”
